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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, For Woman's Love, by Mrs. E. D. E. N.
+Southworth
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: For Woman's Love
+
+
+Author: Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
+
+
+
+Release Date: June 20, 2005  [eBook #16094]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOR WOMAN'S LOVE***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Marilynda Fraser-Cunliffe, Josephine Paolucci, and the
+Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team
+(https://www.pgdp.net)
+
+
+
+FOR WOMAN'S LOVE
+
+A Novel
+
+by
+
+MRS. E. D. E. N. SOUTHWORTH
+
+Author of "The Hidden Hand," "Only a Girl's Heart," "Unknown,"
+"The Lost Lady of Lone," "Nearest and Dearest," etc.
+
+New York and London
+Street & Smith, Publishers
+
+1890
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+A BRILLIANT MATCH.
+
+
+"I remember Regulas Rothsay--or Rule, as we used to call him--when he
+was a little bit of a fellow hardly up to my knee, running about
+bare-footed and doing odd jobs round the foundry. Ah! and now he is
+elected governor of this State by the biggest majority ever heard of,
+and engaged to be married to the finest young lady in the country, with
+the full consent of all her proud relations. To be married to-day and to
+be inaugurated to-morrow, and he only thirty-two years old this blessed
+seventh of June!"
+
+The speaker, a hale man of sixty years, with a bald head, a sharp face,
+a ruddy complexion, and a figure as twisted as a yew tree, and about as
+tough, was Silas Marwig, one of the foremen of the foundry.
+
+"Well, I don't believe Regulas Rothsay would ever have risen to his
+present position if it had not been for his love of Corona Haught. No
+more do I believe that Old Rockharrt would ever have allowed his
+beautiful granddaughter to be engaged to Rothsay if the young man had
+not been elected governor," observed a stout, florid-faced matron of
+fifty-five. "How hard he worked for her! And how long she waited for
+him! Why, I remember them both so well! They were the very best of
+friends from their childhood--the wealthy little lady and the poor
+orphan boy."
+
+"That is very true, Mrs. Bounce," said a young man, who was a newcomer
+in the neighborhood and one of the bookkeepers of the great firm. "But
+how did that orphan get his education?"
+
+"By hook and by crook, as the saying is, Mr. Wall. I think the little
+lady taught him to read and write, and she loaned him books. He left
+here when he was about thirteen years old. He went to the city, and got
+into the printing office of _The National Watch_. And he learned the
+trade. And, oh, you know a bright, earnest boy like that was bound to
+get on. He worked hard, and he studied hard. After awhile he began to
+write short, telling paragraphs for the _Watch_, and these at length
+were noticed and copied, and he became assistant editor of the paper. By
+the time he was twenty-five years old he had bought the paper out."
+
+"And, of course, he made it a power in politics. I see the rest. He was
+elected State representative; then State senator."
+
+"Yes, indeed. You've hit it. And now he is going to marry his first love
+to-day, and to take his seat as governor to-morrow," continued the
+matron, with a little chuckle.
+
+"Regulas Rothsay will never take his seat as governor," spoke a solemn
+voice from the thicket on the right of the road along which the party
+were walking to the scene of the grand wedding. All turned to see a
+strange form step out from the shelter of the trees--a tall, gaunt,
+swarthy woman, stern of feature and harsh of tone; her head covered with
+wild, straggling black hair; her body clothed in a long, clinging
+garment of dark red serge.
+
+"Old Scythia," muttered the matron, shuddering and shrinking closer to
+the side of the bookkeeper, for the strange creature was reported and
+believed by the ignorant and superstitious of the neighborhood to be
+powerful and malignant.
+
+"Regulas Rothsay will never take his seat as governor of this State!"
+
+As the beldame repeated and emphasized these words, she raised her hand
+with a prophetic gesture and advanced upon the group of pedestrians.
+
+"Now, then, you old crow! What are you up to with your croaking?"
+demanded Mr. Marwig. "Look here, Mistress Beelzebub! Do you know that
+you are a very lucky woman to live in a land where not only may a
+barefooted boy rise to the highest honors by talent and perseverance,
+but where a malignant old witch may torture and terrify her neighbors
+without fear of the ducking stool or the stake?" he demanded.
+
+The beldame looked at him scornfully, and disdained to reply.
+
+"Wait!" said a stout, dark, middle-aged, black-whiskered man, Timothy
+Ryland by name, and one of the managers of the "works" by state. "Wait,
+I want to question this miserable lunatic. She may have got wind of
+something. Tell me, old mother, why will not the governor-elect take his
+seat to-morrow?"
+
+"Because Fate forbids it," solemnly replied the crone.
+
+"Will the governor be--murdered?"
+
+"No; Regulas Rothsay has not an enemy in the world!"
+
+"Will he be killed on the railroad, or kidnapped?"
+
+"No!"
+
+"Will he be taken suddenly ill?"
+
+"No!"
+
+"What then in the fiend's name is to prevent his taking his seat
+to-morrow?" impatiently demanded the manager.
+
+"An evil so dire, so awful, so mysterious, that its like never happened
+on this earth!"
+
+"Arrest her, Mr. Ryland! She ought to be locked up until she could be
+sent to the asylum!" exclaimed old Marwig.
+
+"I have no power to do so, my friend," replied the manager.
+
+"Why, where is she?" inquired Mrs. Bounce, trembling. "Who saw her go?"
+
+No one answered, but every one looked around. Not a trace of the witch
+could be seen. She had passed like a dark cloud from among them, and was
+gone.
+
+It was a glorious day in June. A long, deep, green valley lay low
+between two lofty ridges of the Cumberland mountains, running north and
+south for ten miles, and near the boundary lines of three States. This
+lovely vale was watered by a merry, sparkling little river called the
+Whirligig, which furnished the power for the huge machinery of the great
+firm of Rockharrt & Sons, proprietors of the Plutus iron mines and the
+North End foundries, which supplied the mighty engines on the great
+lines of railroad from the East to the West, and whose massive
+buildings, forges, furnaces, store-houses and laborers' cottages
+occupied all the ground between the foot of the mountain and the banks
+of the river, on both sides of the Whirligig, at the upper or north end
+of the valley, where a substantial bridge connected the two shores.
+
+This settlement, called, from its position, North End, was quite a
+thriving little village. North End was not only blessed with a mission
+church, having a schoolroom in its basement, but it was provided with a
+post-office, a telegraph, a drug store, kept by a regular physician, who
+dispensed his own physic (advice and medicine, one dollar), and a
+general store, where everything needed to eat, drink, wear or use
+(except drugs), was kept for sale.
+
+On this bright June morning, however, the great works were all stopped.
+There was a general holiday, and as this was at the cost of the firm, it
+gave general satisfaction. All the people of North End, except the aged,
+infirm and infantile, were trooping down the valley, on the rough road
+between the foot of the West Ridge and the side of the river, to a fete
+to be given them at Rockhold on the occasion of the marriage of old
+Aaron Rockharrt's granddaughter, Corona Haught, to Regulas Rothsay, the
+governor-elect of the State.
+
+It was a marriage of very rare interest to the workmen and their
+families. To the men, because the governor-elect had been one of their
+own class. The elders remembered him from the time when he was a
+friendless orphan child, glad to run the longest errand or do the
+hardest day's work for a dime, but also a very independent little
+fellow, who would take nothing in the shape of alms from anybody. To the
+women, because he was going to marry his first and only sweetheart, and
+on the very day before his inauguration, so that she might take part in
+the pageantry that was to be his first great success and triumph.
+
+On one side of the river, at the foot of the East Ridge, stood Rockhold,
+the country seat of the Rockharrts, in its own park, which lay between
+the mountain and the river. The house itself was a large, heavy, oblong
+building of gray stone, two stories high, with cellar and garret. From
+the front of the house to the edge of the river extended a fair green
+lawn, shaded here and there by great forest trees. Under many of these
+trees, tables with refreshments were set, and seats were placed for the
+accommodation and refreshment of the out-door guests. In sunny spots,
+also, some white tents were raised and decorated with flags.
+
+As a group of working men and women sat on the west bank of the river,
+waiting impatiently for the return of the ferryboat, they saw, from
+minute to minute, carriages drive up the lawn avenue, discharge the
+occupants at the main entrance of the house, and then roll off to the
+stable yard in the rear.
+
+These seemed to come in a slow procession.
+
+"Only the nearest relations and most intimate friends of the family are
+invited to the ceremony. There have only been five carriages passed
+since we have been sitting here, and I don't believe there was one come
+before we came, or that there'll be another come after that last one,
+which was certainly the groom's," said Old Marwig.
+
+"Oh! was it, indeed? But how do you know?" demanded Mrs. Bounce.
+
+"It is the new carriage from North End Hotel! And he and his groomsmen
+had engaged it. That's how I know! Here comes the ferryboat! Now for
+it!"
+
+The boat touched the banks, and as many as could find room crowded into
+it, and were speedily rowed across the river and landed on the other
+side, where they found a few of the lawn party there before them.
+
+"There is Mr. Clarence Rockharrt coming toward us!" said Mrs. Bounce, as
+the party walked up from the landing, and a medium-sized, plump, fair
+man of middle age, with a round, fresh face, a smiling countenance, blue
+eyes and light hair, and in "a wedding garment" of the day, came down to
+meet them, and shook hands with all, warmly welcoming them in the name
+of his father. Then he led them up to the lawn and gave them chairs
+among the unoccupied seats at the various tables.
+
+"If you please, Mr. Clarence, is the groom in good health and sperrits?"
+meaningly inquired Mrs. Bounce.
+
+"Mr. Rothsay is in excellent health and spirits, thank you," replied
+the gentleman, looking a little surprised at the question: an then
+moving off quickly to receive some new arrivals.
+
+The guests for the lawn party were constantly arriving, and the
+ferryboat was kept busy plying from the shore to shore.
+
+It is time now to introduce our readers to the house of Rockharrt.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt, the head of that house, was at this time
+seventy-five years of age and a wonder of health and strength. He was
+called the "Iron King," no less from his great hardihood of body and
+mind than from his vast wealth in mines and foundries. In size he was
+almost a giant, with a large head covered by closely-curling, steel-gray
+hair. His character may be summed up in a very few words:
+
+Aaron Rockharrt was an incarnation of monstrous selfishness.
+
+His manners to all, but especially to his dependants, were arrogant,
+egotistical and overbearing. He was utterly destitute of sympathy or
+compassion. There was no room for either in a soul so full of self. In
+his opinion there was no one on earth, neither king nor Kaiser, saint
+nor hero, so important to the universe as Aaron Rockharrt, head of
+Rockharrt & Sons.
+
+Yet Aaron Rockharrt had two redeeming points. He was strictly truthful
+in word and honest in deed.
+
+His wife was near his own age, a quiet, gentle, little old lady, small
+and slim, with white hair half hidden by a lace cap. If she ever had any
+individuality, it had been quite crushed out by the hard heel of her
+husband's iron will. Their eldest son and second partner in the firm was
+Fabian Rockharrt, a fine animal of fifty years old, though scarcely
+looking forty. He had inherited all his father's great strength of body
+and of mind, with more than his father's business talent; but he had
+not inherited the truth and honesty of his father.
+
+Yet there is no one wholly evil, and Fabian Rockharrt's one redeeming
+quality was a certain good nature or benevolence which is more the
+result of temperament than of principle. This quality rendered his
+manner so kind and considerate to all his employes that he was the most
+popular member of his family.
+
+Clarence, the second son, was much younger than his elder brother, and
+so diametrically opposite to him and to their father, both in person and
+character, that he scarcely seemed to come of the same race.
+
+He was really thirty-five years old, but looked ten years less, and was
+a fair blonde, medium-sized and plump, with a round head covered with
+light, curling yellow hair, a round, rosy face as bare as a baby's and
+almost as innocent. He had not the satanic intellect of his father or
+his brother, but he had a fine moral and spiritual nature that neither
+could understand or appreciate.
+
+There were yet two other exceptions to the family character of
+worldliness and selfishness. There were Corona and Sylvanus Haught, a
+sister and brother, orphan grand-children of Aaron Rockharrt, left him
+by his deceased only daughter. Sylvanus, a fine, manly young fellow,
+resembled his Uncle Clarence in person and in character, having the same
+truthfulness, generosity and sincerity, but with a mocking spirit, which
+turned evil into ridicule rather than into a subject of serious rebuke.
+He was three years younger than his sister. Corona was a beautiful
+brunette, tall, like all the Rockharrts, with a superbly developed form,
+a fine head, adorned with a full suit of fine curly black hair, delicate
+classic features, straight, low forehead, aquiline nose, a "Cupid's bow"
+mouth, and finely curved chin. This was her wedding-day and she wore
+her bridal dress of pure white satin, with veil of thread lace and
+wreath of orange buds. Hers was the very triumph of a love match, for
+she was about to wed one whom she had loved from earliest childhood, and
+for whom she had waited long years.
+
+Here was Corona Haught's great victory. She had seen his opponents, her
+own family, bow down and worship her idol. Yet, at the culmination of
+her triumph, on this her bridal day, why did she sit so pale and wan?
+
+From her deep, sad reverie she was aroused by the entrance of her six
+gay bridesmaids.
+
+"Corona, love, good morning! Many happy returns, and so on!" said Flora
+Fields, the first bridesmaid, coming up to the pale bride and kissing
+her.
+
+All the others followed the example, and then Miss Fields said:
+
+"Cora, dear, 'the scene is set'--otherwise, the company are all
+assembled in the drawing-room. Grandpapa and grandmamma are in their
+seats of honor. The bishop, in his canonicals, is waiting; the groom and
+his groomsmen are expectant. Are you ready?"
+
+"I know getting married must be a serious, a solemn, even an awful thing
+when it comes to the point. And most brides do look pale! But you--you
+look ghastly! Come, take some composing spirits of lavender--do!"
+
+"Yes; you may give me some. You will find the vial on the
+dressing-table."
+
+The restorative was administered, and then the "bevy of fair maids" left
+the chamber and went down stairs.
+
+There, in the great hall, they met the bridegroom and his six groomsmen;
+for it was the custom of that time and place to have a groomsman for
+each bridesmaid. The bridegroom and governor-elect was not a handsome
+man--that was conceded even by his best friends--but he was tall and
+muscular, with a look of strength, manliness and nobility that was
+impressive. A son of the people truly, but with the brain of the ruler.
+The whole rugged form and face assumed a gentleness and courtesy that
+almost conferred grace and beauty upon him, as he advanced to greet his
+bride.
+
+Why did she shrink from him?
+
+No one knew. It was only for a moment; and happily, he, in the
+simplicity of a single, honest heart, had not seen the momentary
+shudder.
+
+He drew her hand within his arm, looked down on her with a beam of
+ineffable tenderness and adoration, and then waited, as he had been
+instructed to do, until the groomsmen and bridesmaids had formed the
+procession that was to usher them into the drawing-room and before the
+officiating bishop. They entered the crowded apartment. The bishop, in
+his white robes, stood on the rug, supported by the Rev. Mr. Wells,
+temporary minister of the mission church at North End, and the ceremony
+began. All went on well until he came to that part where the officiating
+minister must read--though a mere form this solemn adjuration to the
+contracting lovers:
+
+"'I require and charge ye both, as ye shall answer at the dreadful day
+of judgment, when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, that if
+either of you know just cause why ye may not be united in matrimony, ye
+do now declare it.'"
+
+There was a pause, to give opportunity for reply, if any reply was to be
+made--a mere form, as the adjuration itself was. Yet the bride shuddered
+throughout her frame. Many noticed it, but not the bridegroom.
+
+The ceremony went on.
+
+"'Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?'"
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt, who stood on the right of the bridal party, stepped
+forth, took his granddaughter's hand, and placed it in that of the
+groom, saying, with visible pride:
+
+"I do."
+
+The rites went on to their conclusion, and the whole party were invited
+into the dining-room, where the marriage feast was spread, where the
+revelry lasted two full hours, and might have lingered longer had not
+the bride withdrawn from the table, and, attended by her bridesmaids,
+retired to her chamber to change her bridal robes for a plain traveling
+suit of silver gray silk, with hat and gloves to match.
+
+There the gentle, timid, old grandmother came to bid her pet child a
+private good-by.
+
+"Are you happy, my love--are you happy?" she inquired. "Why don't you
+answer?"
+
+"My heart is full--too full, grandma," evasively answered Corona
+Rothsay.
+
+"Ah, yes; that is natural--very natural. 'Even so it was with me when I
+was young,'" sighed the old lady, who detected no evasion in the words
+of her darling.
+
+The bride went down stairs, where the bridegroom awaited her. There, in
+the hall, were collected the members of her family, friends, neighbors
+and wedding guests.
+
+Some time was spent in bidding good-by to all these.
+
+"But it is not good-by, really; for the majority of us will follow by a
+later train, and be on hand for the inauguration to-morrow," said old
+Aaron Rockharrt, who seemed to have recovered his youth on this proud
+day.
+
+"And, grandpa, be sure to bring grandma. Don't say that she is too old,
+or too feeble, or too anything, to travel, because she is not; and she
+has set her heart on seeing the pageantry to-morrow. Promise me before I
+leave you," pleaded the bride.
+
+"Very well; I will bring her," said Mr. Rockharrt, who would have
+promised anything to his granddaughter on this auspicious occasion.
+
+"You will find your traps all right, Cora. They went off by the early
+train this morning," said Mr. Clarence.
+
+"And I trust, Rothsay, that you will find my town house comfortably
+prepared for your reception," said Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+The bridegroom handed his bride into the carriage that was to convey
+them to the railway station. The carriage crossed the ferry, and in a
+few minutes reached the other side, and rolled toward the railway
+station.
+
+The road was at this hour very solitary, and the bridegroom and his
+bride found themselves for the first time that day tete-a-tete. He
+turned to her, and drew her head to his heart and whispered:
+
+"Cora, speak to me! Call me your husband!"
+
+"I--cannot. My heart is too full," the girl muttered evasively.
+
+But his grand, simple, truthful spirit perceived no prevarication in her
+words. If her heart was full, it was with responsive love of him, he
+thought. He bent his face lower over her beautiful head, that lay upon
+his bosom, and kissed her.
+
+Soon they reached North End, where all the aged, infirm and infantile
+who could not come to the wedding were seated at their cottage doors, to
+see the carriage with the bridegroom and bride go by.
+
+Smiling and bowing in response, the pair passed through the village and
+went on their way toward the station which they reached at half-past one
+o'clock.
+
+They had to wait about ten minutes for the train to come up. They
+remained in the carriage; for here, too, a small crowd of country people
+had collected to see the bride and the bridegroom, who was also the
+governor-elect.
+
+The train from the East ran into the station. The bridal pair left the
+carriage and went on the cars, and the governor-elect and his bride set
+out for the State capital. It was a long afternoon ride, and the sun was
+low when the train drew in sight of the State capital, and slowed into
+the station.
+
+An immense crowd had gathered to welcome the governor-elect, and as he
+stepped out upon the platform, and stood with his bride on his arm, the
+cheers were deafening. When these had in some measure subsided, the hero
+of the hour returned thanks in a simple little speech. Then the
+committee of reception came up and shook hands with the governor-to-be,
+who next presented them in turn to his wife.
+
+At last the pair were allowed to enter the carriage that was in waiting
+to convey them to the town house of Aaron Rockharrt. Other carriages
+containing members of the committee attended them. They passed through
+the main street of the city.
+
+The procession of carriages passed until it reached the Rockharrt
+residence, opposite the government mansion, where the committee took
+leave of the governor-elect and his bride, who entered their temporary
+home alone, to be received and attended by obsequious servants.
+
+There we also will leave them.
+
+Visitors to the inauguration were arriving by every train.
+
+Among the arrivals from the East came Aaron Rockharrt, with his wife,
+his two sons, Fabian and Clarence, and his grandson, Sylvan, the
+younger brother of Cora.
+
+The main door of the mansion was open, and several gentlemen, wearing
+official badges, stood without or just within it.
+
+"By Jove! we are just in time, and it has been a close shave! That is
+the committee come to take him to the State house!" exclaimed old Aaron
+Rockharrt as he stepped out of the carriage, and helped his feeble
+little wife to alight. He led her up the steps, followed by the other
+three men of his party.
+
+"Good morning, Judge Abbot. We are just in time, I find. We came up by
+the night train, and a close shave it has been. Well, a miss is as good
+as a mile, and we are safe to see the whole of the pageant," said the
+old man, speaking to a tall, thin, gray-haired gentleman, who wore a
+rosette on the lapel of his coat.
+
+"Yes, sir; but here is a very strange difficulty--very strange, indeed,"
+replied the official, with a deeply troubled and perplexed air, which
+was shared by all the gentlemen who stood with him.
+
+"What's the trouble, gentlemen? Is the chief justice ill, that his honor
+cannot administer the oath, or what?"
+
+"It is much worse than that--if anything could be worse," gravely
+replied one of the committee.
+
+"What is it then? A contested election at this late hour?"
+
+"The governor-elect cannot be found. No one has seen him since eleven
+o'clock last night. He is missing."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+A LOST GOVERNOR AND BRIDEGROOM.
+
+
+"Missing!" echoed old Aaron Rockharrt, drawing up his huge frame to its
+fullest height, and staring with strong black eyes in a defiant and
+aggressive manner. "Missing! did you say, sir?" he repeated sternly.
+
+"Yes, Mr. Rockharrt; ever since last night," replied Judge Abbot,
+chairman of the committee, in much distress and anxiety.
+
+"Impossible! Never heard of such a thing in the whole course of my life!
+A bridegroom lost on the evening of his marriage! A governor lost on the
+morning of his inauguration! I tell you, sir, it is impossible--utterly
+and entirely impossible! How do you know, sir, that he has not been seen
+by some one or other since last night? How do you know that he cannot be
+found, somewhere, this morning?"
+
+"All his household have failed to find him. Our messengers have been
+sent in every direction without discovering the slightest clew to
+his--fate," gloomily replied the judge.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt turned to the porter, who was still in attendance at the
+door, and demanded:
+
+"Where is your mistress?"
+
+The man, a negro and an old family servant of the Rockharrts, replied:
+
+"The young madam is in the back drawing room, sir; and if you please,
+sir, I think she would be all the better for seeing the old madam."
+
+"Who is with her now?" shortly demanded Mr. Rockharrt, ignoring his
+servant's suggestion, although Mrs. Rockharrt looked nervously anxious
+to follow it "There is no one with her, sir."
+
+"Alone! Alone! My granddaughter left alone on the morning after her
+marriage? What do you mean by that? Where is your master?
+
+"Show me in to your mistress at once. I will get at the bottom of this
+mystery, or this villainy, as it is more likely to prove, before I am
+through with the matter. And if my granddaughter's husband is not to be
+found before the day is out, I will have all concerned in the plot
+arrested for conspiracy!" exclaimed Mr. Rockharrt, with that utter
+recklessness of assertion to which he was addicted in moments of
+excitement.
+
+The dismayed negro lowered his eyes and led the way. Aaron Rockharrt
+strode on, followed by his timid and terrified old wife, his stalwart
+sons, his mocking grandson, and the members of the committee. But the
+old man, not liking such an escort, turned upon them, and said, with
+sarcastic politeness and dignity:
+
+"Gentlemen, permit me. It is expedient, under existing circumstances,
+that I should first see my granddaughter alone."
+
+The members of the committee bowed with offended dignity and withdrew to
+the front of the hall.
+
+Meanwhile Aaron Rockharrt sent back the members of his own family, and
+strode solemnly into the drawing room, which was half darkened by the
+closed window shutters.
+
+"Now leave the room, sir; shut the door after you and stand on the
+outside to keep off all intruders," commanded Mr. Rockharrt to the
+servant who had admitted him.
+
+When the door was closed upon him, Aaron Rockharrt discerned his
+granddaughter, who sat in an easy chair in a dark corner of the back
+drawing room, which was divided from the front by blue satin and white
+lace portieres. Her deadly pallid face gleamed out from the shadows in
+startling contrast to her jet black hair and the black dress which,
+against all precedent, she wore on this the morning after her marriage.
+
+The old man of iron went up and stood before her, looking at her in
+silence for a few moments.
+
+"Corona Rothsay," he began, sternly, "what is the meaning of this
+unparalleled situation?"
+
+"I--I--do not know."
+
+"You do not know where your husband is on the morning after his marriage
+and on the day of his expected inauguration?"
+
+"No; I do not know."
+
+"You seem to take this desertion or this death very quietly."
+
+"What would be gained by taking it any other way?" she murmured, though
+indeed she was not taking the situation quietly, but controlling
+herself.
+
+"How dare you say so to me?" severely demanded the old man, scarcely
+able to control his wrath, though at a loss to know against whom to
+direct it.
+
+"You ask me a direct question. I give you a truthful answer."
+
+"Answer me, truly!" rudely exclaimed Aaron Rockharrt, giving way, in his
+blind egotism, to utter recklessness of assertion, to gross injustice
+and exaggeration. "What have you done to him, Corona? Tell me that!"
+
+She started violently and looked up quickly; her face was whiter, her
+eyes wilder than before.
+
+"What--have--you--done to him?" he sternly repeated, looking her full in
+the deathly face.
+
+"I? Nothing!" she answered, but her voice faltered and her frame shook.
+
+"I believe that you have! You look as if you had! I have seen the devil
+in you since we brought you home from Europe against your will;
+especially within the last few days!"
+
+Having hurled upon her this avalanche of abuse, he turned and strode
+wrathfully up and down the room until he had got off some of his
+excitement. Then, he came and stood before his granddaughter.
+
+"How long has your husband been missing?" he abruptly inquired.
+
+"Since last night," in a very low tone.
+
+"When did you see him last? Tell me that!"
+
+"I have already told you--last evening."
+
+"Tell me all that has occurred from the time you both left Rockhold to
+the time you entered this house which I placed at your disposal and to
+which I sent you, to save you from the noise and bustle and excitement
+of a crowded hotel, and to give you rest and quiet and seclusion. Yes!
+and this the result! But go on and tell me. From the time you left
+Rockhold to this time, mind you!"
+
+"Very well, sir, I will tell you. Our journey, a series of ovations. Our
+reception in this city was a triumph. We were met at the depot by a
+great crowd, and by the committee with carriages, and we were escorted
+to this house by a military and civil procession with a band of music.
+They left us at the gate.
+
+"We entered, and were received by the servants. As soon as I had changed
+my dress we went down to dinner. After dinner we went into the drawing
+room. A gentleman was announced on official business connected with the
+ceremonies of to-day. He was shown into the library, and my husband went
+to him. Many callers came. They talked with Mr. Rothsay in the library.
+I remained in this room. At last the crowd began to thin off, and soon
+all were gone. Mr. Rothsay came into this room--and sat down by my
+side. We talked together for an hour or more. Then a card was brought
+in. Mr. Rothsay took it, looked at it, and said:
+
+"'I will see the gentleman. Show him into the front room.'
+
+"Mr. Rothsay arose and went into the front room to receive his visitor.
+It was late, and I was very tired, so I went up stairs to my chamber and
+retired to bed. I have never seen my husband since."
+
+And Corona dropped her face upon her hands and sobbed as if her heart
+would break. She had utterly broken down for the first time.
+
+"Good heavens! I don't understand it all! Had you had a lover's quarrel
+now in that hour when you talked together in this parlor?" inquired the
+old gentleman, his insane anger being now merged in wonder. "Had you
+reproached him for spending so much time with his political friends
+while you were waiting here alone?"
+
+"Oh, no, no," replied Corona, between her convulsive sobs.
+
+"Good heavens!" again exclaimed the old man. "When did you first miss
+him?"
+
+"When I came down in the morning. I thought then that he had been kept
+up all night by his friends, and that I should meet him at breakfast. He
+did not appear at breakfast. The servants searched for him all over the
+house, but could not find him. I waited breakfast until I was faint with
+fasting and suspense. Then I took a cup of coffee. On inquiry it was
+found that Jasper had been the last to see him, and that he had not seen
+him since he showed the visitor in. He did not show the visitor out. He
+waited some time to do so, and fell asleep. When he awoke the visitor
+had gone, and the drawing rooms were empty. The man supposed that Mr.
+Rothsay had seen his friend to the door, and had then retired to bed.
+And so he shut up the house and went to his room. No one discovered that
+Mr. Rothsay was missing until this morning. When the inaugural committee
+came two hours ago, the servants told them all that I have just told
+you."
+
+"Who was the last visitor? He might throw some light upon this dark,
+evil subject. Who was he?" abruptly demanded Aaron Rockharrt.
+
+"I do not know. No one seems to know. Jasper says he never saw him
+before, nor ever heard his name."
+
+"Couldn't he see it on his card?"
+
+"Jasper cannot read, you must remember."
+
+"Where is that card? Let me see it!"
+
+"It cannot be found."
+
+"Conspiracy! Treason! Murder!" interrupted Aaron Rockharrt. "The
+governor-elect has been decoyed away from the house by that last caller,
+and has been murdered! And the people in the house may not be as
+innocent or ignorant as they pretend to be. I will go out and take
+counsel with the committee," he said, and he turned and strode out of
+the drawing room.
+
+When he reached the hall, however, he found that the officials had gone
+to pursue their search for the missing man elsewhere. The men of his own
+party were nowhere to be seen. The porter, Jasper, was the only occupant
+of the hall, and Aaron Rockharrt opened the hall door and walked out.
+The military and civil escort were still on parade before the house,
+waiting for the governor-elect.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt's carriage was standing before the door. He entered it and
+ordered the coachman to drive to police headquarters.
+
+The hour for the inauguration of the new governor was approaching. The
+procession to the State house should have been in motion by this time.
+The people on the sidewalks, at the doors and windows, on the balconies,
+and on the roofs, all along the line of march, were beginning to be
+weary of waiting.
+
+The officials who had the ceremonies of the occasion in hand waited
+until three o'clock in the afternoon, and then, as the governor-elect
+was nowhere to be found, as the necessity was imminent, the inaugural
+procession was ordered to begin its march.
+
+"Where is he? Where is Rothsay?" demanded the spectators one of the
+other.
+
+No one knew. No one had seen him. No one could, therefore, answer.
+
+When the procession reached the State house, the lieutenant-governor,
+Kennelm Kennedy, was sworn in, and the military companies and the civic
+societies and the spectators all dispersed.
+
+But where was the governor? That was the question of the hour. Why had
+he not been inaugurated? was asked by everybody of everybody else. The
+secret of his total and unexplained disappearance had not, indeed, been
+closely kept. His intimate friends, his household servants and the
+public officials knew it, but the general public did not.
+
+The next morning the news came out, and the papers had sensational
+head-lines and long accounts of the sudden and mysterious disappearance
+of the governor-elect on the eve of his inauguration and of a bridegroom
+on the evening of his wedding day.
+
+Also there were rewards offered for any intelligence of Regulas Rothsay,
+living or dead, and for the identification of the unknown visitor who
+was supposed to have been the last to have seen him on the night of his
+disappearance.
+
+Days passed, and nothing came in answer to the advertisements. The
+public at length reached in theory this conclusion: that the
+governor-elect had been decoyed from the house by his latest visitor,
+and had been secretly murdered in some remote quarter.
+
+The Rockharrts did not return to Rockhold, but remained in town through
+all the heat of that hot summer, because Aaron Rockharrt thought he
+could best pursue his investigations on the scene of the mystery. But he
+sent his sons to North End to look after the works.
+
+Corona would see no one save the members of her own family. She kept her
+room, and grieved without ceasing. On the ninth day after the
+disappearance of her lover-husband she made an effort and came down into
+the drawing room, to please the gentle old grandmother.
+
+She sat there with the old lady, reading to her, until Mrs. Rockharrt
+was called out by her tyrant to get something, it might be a book or a
+paper, a cigar or a pipe, that he himself or a servant might have got
+just as well, except that Aaron Rockharrt liked to have the ladies of
+his family wait upon him.
+
+What happened during the hour of the old lady's absence from the drawing
+room no one knew, but when she returned she found her granddaughter in a
+swoon on the carpet. In great alarm she called the servants to her
+assistance. The unconscious girl was laid upon a sofa, and all means
+were taken to restore her to her senses. Corona recovered her faculties
+only to fall into the most violent paroxysms of anguish and despair.
+
+From her ravings and self-reproaches Mrs. Rockharrt gathered that the
+unfortunate girl had heard, or in some way learned, some fatal news.
+
+She sent all the servants out of the room, locked the door, administered
+a sedative to her child, and then, when the latter was somewhat calmer,
+questioned her as to the cause of her distress.
+
+"I have nothing to tell--nothing, nothing to tell! But take me away from
+this place! Take me home to Rockhold, where I may be alone!"
+
+"I will do all I can to comfort you, my dear," said Mrs. Rockharrt. "I
+will speak to Mr. Rockharrt when he comes in."
+
+No one but the snubbed, brow-beaten and humiliated wife knew all that
+she engaged to suffer when she promised to speak to her lord and master.
+
+Corona, soothed by the sedative that had been given her, and consoled by
+the love and sympathy that had been lavished upon her, grew more
+composed, and finally fell into a deep sleep from which she awoke
+refreshed. But a rumor went through the house that the young lady had
+got news which she did not choose to communicate.
+
+Later in the day Mrs. Rockharrt deferentially proposed to the domestic
+despot that they should return to Rockhold, as the weather was so
+oppressive and the town house was so obnoxious to dear Corona, which was
+quite natural under the trying circumstances.
+
+Aaron Rockharrt glared at her until she cowered, and then he told her
+that he should direct the movements of his family as he thought proper,
+and that any suggestions from her or from his granddaughter were both
+unnecessary and impertinent.
+
+So they both had to bend under the iron will of Aaron Rockharrt.
+
+At length, however, something happened to relieve them.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt had not been neglecting his own business, while looking
+after the missing governor-elect, nor had he been leaving it to his sons
+and partners, whom he refused to trust. He had been corresponding with
+his chief manager, Ryland. This correspondence had not been entirely
+satisfactory, so at length he wrote to Ryland to come to the city for a
+business talk. It was about the middle of August that the manager
+arrived and was closeted with his chief. After two hours' discussion of
+business matters, which ended satisfactorily, the manager, rising to
+leave the study, observed:
+
+"This is a bad job about the governor, sir!"
+
+"I do not wish to talk of this matter," said Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+"Very well, sir, I am dumb," replied the manager, taking up his hat to
+leave the house.
+
+"Do you go back to North End by the night train?" inquired Mr.
+Rockharrt.
+
+"Yes, sir! I must be at my post to-morrow morning, in order to carry out
+your instructions."
+
+"Quite right," said the head of the great firm. Then with strange
+inconsistency, since he had declared that he wished to talk no more on
+the subject of the lost governor, he suddenly inquired:
+
+"What do the people of North End say about the disappearance of Governor
+Rothsay?"
+
+"Some say he was beguiled away by that man who called on him late at
+night, and that he was murdered and his body made away with. But I beg
+your pardon, sir, for repeating such dreadful things."
+
+"Go on! What else do they say?"
+
+"Well, sir, one says one thing, and one another; but they all agree that
+Old Scythia could tell something if she chose."
+
+"Old Scythia? And what has she to do with the loss of the governor?"
+
+"Nothing that I know of, sir. But the people at North End say that she
+has."
+
+"Why do they say it?"
+
+"Because, sir, on the day of the wedding, and the eve of the
+inauguration, she did foretell, in the hearing of a score, that Mr.
+Rothsay would never take his seat as governor."
+
+"What! Absurd! Preposterous!"
+
+"Of course it was, sir! Yet she did say that, sir, in the hearing of
+twenty or more of us, and it was a strange coincidence, to say the
+least, that her words came true. She said it in the presence of many
+witnesses on the day before the intended inauguration, and when there
+seemed no possibility of her words coming true. And strange to say, they
+have come true."
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt mused for a few minutes and then replied:
+
+"There is no such thing as divination, or soothsaying, or prophesy, or
+fortune telling in this world. It is all coarse imposture, that can
+deceive only the weakest mortals. You know that, of course, Ryland. It
+follows, then, that this old woman could have had no knowledge of what
+was going to happen unless she was in league with conspirators who had
+planned to kidnap or murder the governor-elect."
+
+"But, sir, if Old Scythia had been in league with any conspirators,
+would she have betrayed them--beforehand?"
+
+"No; unless she was too crazy to keep their secret. But--she may have
+got wind of their plots in some way without their knowledge."
+
+"Yes, sir," said Manager Ryland, who agreed to every opinion advanced by
+his chief.
+
+"Well, then, I shall go down to Rockhold to-morrow, and investigate this
+matter for myself. In my capacity of justice of the peace I shall issue
+a warrant to have that woman brought before me on a charge of vagrancy,
+and then I shall examine her on this point. But, Ryland, you are to be
+careful not to drop even a hint of my intention."
+
+"Of course I will not, sir," replied the manager, and then, as there
+seemed no more to do or say, he took his leave.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt strode into the drawing room where his wife and
+granddaughter sat, and astonished them by saying:
+
+"Pack up your things this afternoon. We leave for Rockland by the first
+train to-morrow morning."
+
+He deigned no explanation, but turned and stalked off.
+
+The three reached North End at noon. As their arrival was to be a
+surprise, no carriage had been ordered to meet them. But the large,
+comfortable hack from the North End Hotel was engaged, and in it they
+rode on to Rockhold, where they pulled up two hours later, to the
+astonishment and consternation of the household, who, be it whispered,
+had almost as lief been confronted with his satanic majesty as to be
+surprised by their despotic master.
+
+Leaving his womenkind to get domestic affairs into order, the Iron King
+went to the little den at the end of the hall, which he called his
+study, and there made out a warrant for the arrest of Hyacinth Woods on
+the charge of vagrancy. This he directed to William Hook, county
+constable, and sent it off to the county seat by one of his servants. He
+waited all the rest of the day for the return of the warrant with the
+prisoner, but in vain.
+
+The next day, in the afternoon, Constable Hook made his appearance
+before the magistrate without the prisoner, and reported:
+
+"She cannot be found. I went first to her hut on the mountain, but it
+was in ruins. It had fallen in. I searched for the woman everywhere, and
+only found out that she had not been seen by anybody since the day of
+the grand wedding here," replied the officer.
+
+"The old crone is lost on the same day that the young governor was
+missing, eh? Very significant. I want you to take a paper for me to the
+_Peakeville Gazette_. I will advertise a thousand dollars reward for the
+discovery of that woman. She knows the fate of Rothsay."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+A MOUNTAIN IDYL--THE GIRL AND THE BOY.
+
+
+On a fine day near the end of October, several years before the opening
+of this story, the express train from the southwest was speeding on
+toward North End. In one of the middle cars, which was not crowded, nor,
+indeed, quite full, sat a girl and a boy--both dressed in deep mourning,
+and both in charge of a tall, stout gentleman, also in deep mourning.
+These children were Corona, aged seven, and Sylvanus, aged four, orphans
+and co-heirs of John Haught, a millionaire merchant of San Francisco,
+and of his wife, Felicia, only daughter of Aaron and Deborah Rockharrt,
+of Rockhold. They had lost their parents during the prevalence of an
+epidemic fever, and had been left to the guardianship of Aaron
+Rockharrt. They were now coming, in charge of their Uncle Fabian--who
+had been sent to fetch them--to their grandparents' house, which was to
+be their home during their minority.
+
+In front of these children sat a man of middle age and a boy of about
+twelve years. They seemed to belong to the honorable order of working
+men. Their clothing was old, worn and travel-stained. They had been
+picked up only at the last past station, and looked as if they had
+tramped a long way--weary and dejected. Each wore on his battered hat a
+little wisp of a dusty black crape band. This was a circumstance which
+much interested the little girl, Corona, who had a longer memory than
+her baby brother, and had not yet done grieving after her father and her
+mother, and she wanted to speak to the poor boy, and to tell him how
+very sorry she was for him, but was much too timid for such a venture.
+Neither the boy nor the man looked behind them, and so the children
+never saw their faces during the ride to North End. Both parties got out
+at the station. The Rockhold carriage was waiting for Fabian and his
+charges. Nothing was waiting for the tramp and his son. Mr. Fabian
+looked at them, and took in the whole situation. He put his nephew and
+niece into the carriage, told the coachman to wait for him, and then
+went up to the tramps.
+
+"Looking for work?" he said, addressing the elder.
+
+"Yes, sir," replied the latter, touching his old hat. "I have come a
+long way to look for it, and I am bound now for Rockharrt & Sons'
+Locomotive Works. Could you be so kind as to direct me where to find
+them?"
+
+"About three miles down this side of the river. You cannot miss them if
+you follow this road. Stay--I am one of the firm. We have rather more
+men than we want just now, but I will give you a line to our manager,
+and he will find a place for you, and the boy, also," said plausible,
+good-natured, lying, dishonest Fabian Rockharrt, as he drew a card from
+his pocket and just wrote above his name:
+
+"Take the bearer and his boy on."
+
+Then on the opposite side of the card he wrote the superscription:
+"Timothy Ryland, Manager North End Foundries."
+
+He gave this to the tramp, who touched his hat again, and led off his
+boy for their long walk to the works.
+
+Fabian Rockharrt, with his nephew and niece, reached Rockland two hours
+later.
+
+Aaron Rockharrt and his younger son, Clarence, were absent, at the
+works; but little Mrs. Rockharrt was at home.
+
+Little Cora became the constant companion of the grandmother, who found
+her well advanced in learning for a child of seven years. She could
+read, write a little, and do easy sums in the first four simple rules of
+arithmetic.
+
+A school room was fitted up on the first floor back of the Rockhold
+mansion. A nursery governess was found by advertisement.
+
+She was a young and beautiful girl of the wax doll order of beauty, and
+of not more than sixteen years of age. In person she was tall, slim and
+fair, with red cheeks, blue eyes and yellow hair. Her very name, as well
+as her presence, was full of the aromas of Araby the Blest. It was Rose
+Flowers.
+
+Rose smiled and bloomed and beamed on all, but most of all on Mr.
+Fabian, who was at that time a very handsome and fascinating man of no
+more than thirty, and to do her justice, she brought her young pupils
+well on in elementary education.
+
+No more was seen or heard of the tramp and his boy, who had come to seek
+work at the foundries. They seemed to have been forgotten even by the
+little girl whose sympathies had been touched by their appearance on the
+train with their own party.
+
+But early in February a catastrophe occurred which brought them back
+most painfully to, her memory. There was an explosion in the foundry,
+by which the man was instantly killed.
+
+"Uncle Clarence," asked Cora of that person, "where is the boy belonging
+to the poor man that was killed? You know they came in the cars with us
+to North End Station. Oh! and they were so poor! Oh, and the boy had a
+bit of old crape on his old hat! Oh, and I know he had no mother! But I
+don't know whether the man was his father or his uncle. But, oh, Uncle
+Clarence, dear, where is the boy?"
+
+"I don't know anything about the boy, little one, but I will inquire and
+tell you. I think the little chap has two more friends left, dear. You
+are one. I am the other."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Clarence, you are a dear ducky-ducky-darling! And when I am a
+grown-up woman, I will marry you."
+
+"Oh! well, all right, if you remain in the same mind, and--"
+
+"I will never, never change my mind. I love you better than I do anybody
+in the world, except Sylvan and grandma, and Miss Flowers and Tip!"
+
+Clarence kept his word with the child about making inquiries as to the
+fate of the boy in whom she was interested.
+
+The boy was motherless, and, by the death of his father, had been left
+utterly destitute. He had found a home with Scythia Woods, an eccentric
+woman, who lived in a hut on the mountain side, half way between North
+End and Rockhold, and he supported himself in a poor way by running
+errands and doing little jobs about the works.
+
+Little Cora Haught listened to this account of the poor, friendless,
+self-reliant lad with the deepest sympathy.
+
+"Uncle Clarence," she pleaded, "you are so rich. Why don't you give
+that poor boy clothes, and shoes, and hats, and all he ought to have?"
+
+"My good little girl, nothing would give me more delight, but that
+fellow would see Rockharrt & Sons swallowed up by an earthquake before
+he would take a cent from them that he had not earned."
+
+"Oh, I like that--that is grand! But why don't you take him on and give
+him good pay?"
+
+"But, my dear, he is a boy, and cannot do regular heavy work. He is
+quite uneducated, and cannot do any other except what he does."
+
+Two months later, one lovely spring day, she saw him again for the first
+time since their meeting on the train six months previous. He came to
+Rockhold one Saturday afternoon to bring a letter from the manager to
+the head of the firm. He came to the back door which opened from the
+porch. He sent in his letter by the servant who came at his knock, and
+he said he was to wait for an answer. Cora, in the back parlor, saw him,
+recognized him, and ran out to speak to him.
+
+Perhaps the tiny lady had some faint idea of the duties and
+responsibilities of wealth and station. So she spoke to the boy.
+
+"Are you Regulas Rothsay?" she inquired, in a soft tone.
+
+"Yes, miss," replied the boy.
+
+There was an awkward pause, and then the little girl said slowly:
+
+"You won't let anybody give you anything, although you have no father
+nor mother. Now, why won't you?"
+
+"Because, I can work for all I want, all--but--" the boy began, and then
+stopped.
+
+"You have all but what?"
+
+"A little schooling."
+
+"Here's the answer, Rule! You are to run right away as fast as you can
+and take it to Mr. Ryland," said a servant, coming out upon the porch
+and handing a letter to the boy.
+
+It was a week after this interview with the lad before Cora saw him
+again.
+
+He was on the lawn in front of the house. She was at the window of the
+front drawing room. As soon as she espied him she ran out to speak to
+him, and eagerly begged that she might teach him to read.
+
+The boy, surprised at the suddenness and the character of such an offer,
+blushed, thanked the little lady, and declined, then hesitated,
+reflected, and then, half reluctantly, half gratefully, consented.
+
+Cora was delighted, and frankly expressed her joy.
+
+"Oh, Regulas, I am so glad! Now every afternoon when I have done my
+lessons--I am in Comly's first speller, Peter Parley's first book of
+history, and first book of geography, and I am as far as short division
+in arithmetic, and round hand in the copy book--so as soon as I get
+through with my lessons, and you get through with your work, you come to
+this back porch, where I play, and I will bring my old primer and white
+slate, and I will teach you. If you get here before I do, you wait for
+me. I will never be long away. If I get here before you, I will wait for
+you," she concluded.
+
+The Iron King, Mr. Fabian, or Mr. Clarence, passing out of the back door
+for an afternoon stroll in the grounds, would see the little lady seated
+in one of the large Quaker chairs, her feet dangling over its edge, busy
+with her doll's dresses, and furtively watching her pupil, who, seated
+before her on one of the long piazza benches, would be poring over his
+primer or his slate.
+
+As time went on every one began to wonder at the earnestness and
+constancy of this childish friendship.
+
+So the lessons went on through all the spring and summer and early
+autumn of that year.
+
+Before the leaves had fallen Regulas had learned all she could teach
+him.
+
+Then their parting came about naturally, inevitably. When the weather
+grew cold, the lessons could no longer be given out on the exposed
+piazza, and the little teacher could not be permitted to bring her rough
+and ragged pupil into the house.
+
+Cora begged of her kind Uncle Clarence some of his old school books,
+which she knew to be among the rubbish of the garret, which was her own
+rainy-day play room in summer, and offered the books to the boy as a
+loan from herself, because she dared not offer the lad a gift.
+
+Later, she loaned him a "Boy's Life of Benjamin Franklin." It was that
+book, perhaps, that decided the boy's destiny. He read it with avidity,
+with enthusiasm. The impression made upon his mind was so deep and
+intense that his heart became fired with a fine ambition. He longed to
+tread in the steps of Benjamin Franklin--to become a printer, to rise to
+position and power, to do great and good things for his country and for
+humanity. He brooded over all this.
+
+To begin, he resolved to become a printer.
+
+So, when the spring opened, he came to Rockhold and bade good-by to his
+little friend, and went, at the age of fourteen, to the city to seek his
+fortune, walking all the way, and taking with him testimonials as to his
+character for truth, honesty, and industry.
+
+There were at that time three printing offices in that city. Rule
+applied to the first and to the second without success, but when he
+applied to the third--the office of the _Watch_--and showed his
+credentials, the proprietor took him on.
+
+He and his little friend corresponded regularly from month to month.
+
+No one objected to this letter writing, any more than to the lesson
+giving. It was but the charity of the little lady given for the
+encouragement of the poor, struggling orphan boy.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It was nearly four years after the departure of Rule from the works at
+North End to seek his fortune in a printing office of the neighboring
+city. He had never yet returned to see his friends, though his
+correspondence with Cora had been kept up.
+
+In the four years that Rose Flowers had lived at Rockhold she had won
+the hearts of all the household, from the master down to the meanest
+drudge. She was, indeed, the fragrance of the house. All admired her
+much and loved her more, and yet--
+
+And yet in every mind there was a latent distrust of her, which seemed
+unjust, and for which all who felt it reproached themselves--in every
+mind but one.
+
+The Iron King felt no distrust of the submissive, beautiful creature,
+whom he continually held up to other members of his family as the very
+model of perfect womanhood.
+
+He did not see, he said, why she should now, when it was finally decided
+that Cora should be sent to the young ladies' institute, at the city,
+why Rose should leave the house. She might remain as companion for Mrs.
+Rockharrt. But when this was proposed to Miss Flowers, the young
+governess explained, with much regret, that, not anticipating this
+generous offer, she had already secured another situation.
+
+With tears in her beautiful eyes, Rose Flowers took the old man's hand
+and pressed it to her heart and then to her lips as she bent her head
+and cooed:
+
+"I will remember all you have told me--all the wise and good counsel
+you have ever given me, all the precious acts of kindness you have ever
+shown me. And when I cease to remember them, sir, may heaven forget me!"
+
+"There, there, my child. You are a baby--a mere baby!" said the Iron
+King, as he patted her on the head and left her.
+
+This interview occurred a few days before Christmas.
+
+It was now Christmas morning, nearly four years after the departure of
+Rule Rothsay. It was a fine clear, cold day. Bright with color was the
+village of North End, where all the houses were decorated with holly,
+and the people, in their Sunday clothes, were out in the streets on
+their way to the church, which had been beautifully decorated for the
+occasion.
+
+The Rockharrt family--with the exception of old Aaron Rockharrt, who did
+not choose to turn out that day, and Miss Rose Flowers, who stayed home
+to keep him company and to wait on him--came early in their capacious
+and comfortable family carriage. They had a large, square, handsomely
+upholstered pew in the right-hand upper corner of the church.
+
+When they were all quietly settled in their seats and the voluntary was
+going on, the elders of the party bowed their heads to offer up their
+preliminary prayers. But Cora, girl-like, looked about her, letting her
+glances wander over the well-filled pews, and then up toward the
+galleries. A moment later she suddenly gave a little start and
+half-suppressed exclamation of delight.
+
+Mrs. Rockharrt, who had finished her prayer, looked around in surprise
+at the girl, who had committed this unusual indecorum.
+
+"Oh, grandma, it is Rule! Rule, up there in the boys' gallery--look!"
+Cora whispered, in eager delight.
+
+The old lady raised her eyes and recognized Regulas Rothsay--but so
+well grown, so well dressed, and well looking as to be hardly
+recognizable, except from his strong, characteristic head and face. He
+wore a neatly fitting suit of dark-blue cloth; neat woolen gloves
+covered his large hands; his hair was trimmed and as nicely dressed as
+such rough, tawny locks could be.
+
+At length the beautiful service was finished, and the congregation filed
+out of the church into the yard, where all immediately began shaking
+hands with each other.
+
+Presently Cora saw the youth come out of the church, look earnestly
+about him until he descried her party, and then walk directly toward
+her.
+
+"Oh, Rule, I am so glad to see you! When did you get here? Why didn't
+you come straight to Rockhold? Why didn't you write and tell me you were
+coming?" Cora eagerly demanded, as she met him, and hurrying question
+upon question before giving him time to answer the first one.
+
+The youth raised his cap and bowed to the elder members of the party
+before answering the girl. Then he said:
+
+"I did not know that I could come until an hour before I started. I came
+by the midnight express, and reached here just in time for church. I
+have not seen, or I should say, I have not spoken to, any one here yet
+except yourself.
+
+"Last evening, being Friday evening, we were at work very late on our
+Saturday's supplement, and a Christmas story in it. Very often we have
+to work on Christmas night, if the next day is a week day; and every
+Sunday night--that is, from twelve midnight, when the Sabbath ends--we
+have to work to get out Monday morning's paper."
+
+"Oh, yes; of course," said Fabian.
+
+"Well, I never have had a whole holiday since I have been in the _Watch_
+office; but last night, about half-past ten, after the paper had gone to
+press, the foreman came to me, paid my wages up to the first of January,
+and told me that I need not return to the office at midnight after
+Sunday, but might have leave of absence until Monday morning, so as to
+have time to go and spend Christmas with my friends if I wished to do
+so."
+
+Just then Clarence Rockharrt joined them and said, anxiously:
+
+"Mother, dear, I think you had better get into the carriage. It is very
+bleak out here, and you might take cold."
+
+Mrs. Rockharrt at once took the arm of her youngest and best-beloved son
+and let him lead her away to the spot where the comfortable family coach
+awaited them.
+
+Mr. Fabian started to follow with Cora.
+
+"Come with us to the carriage door, Rule," said the girl, looking back
+and stretching her hand out toward the youth.
+
+"Yes! Come!" added pleasant Mr. Fabian.
+
+Regulas touched his hat and followed. Fabian put his niece in the seat
+beside her grandmother, and then turned to the youth and inquired:
+
+"What are you going to do with yourself to-day?"
+
+"I shall go down to my old home, sir, Mother Scythia's hut."
+
+"Oh! Ah! Yes; I remember. You are going to stop there?"
+
+"Yes, sir; but I shall try to see all old friends to-day or to-morrow,
+and I should like to go to Rockhold to thank all the friends there who
+have been kind to me, and to tell Mrs. Rockharrt and Miss Cora, who were
+kindest of all, how I have got on in the city."
+
+"Certainly! Certainly, Rule! Come whenever you like! And see here! It
+is a long, rough road from here to old Scythia's Roost, which is right
+on our way to Rockhold. Sorry we cannot offer you a seat in the carriage
+but you see there are but four seats and there are already five people
+to fill them."
+
+"Oh, sir, I should not expect such a thing," said the youth.
+
+"But I was about to say if you will mount to a seat beside the coachman,
+you will be heartily welcome to what used to be my own 'most favoryte'
+perch in my younger days. And we can set you down at the foot of the
+path leading up to old Scythia's hut," concluded Mr. Fabian.
+
+"Oh, do, Rule! Please do!" pleaded Cora.
+
+Regulas, with his sturdy independence of spirit, would most likely have
+declined this favor had not the girl's beseeching face and voice
+persuaded him to accept it.
+
+"I thank you very much, sir," he said, and promptly climbed to the seat.
+
+Three miles down the road the carriage was pulled up at the foot of the
+highest point of the mountain range, and Rule came down from his perch
+beside the coachman, stepped up to the carriage window, took off his
+hat, thanked the occupants for his ride, and then drew a neat, white
+inch-square parcel from his vest pocket, and holding it modestly, said:
+
+"I hope you will accept this, Miss Cora."
+
+The girl took it with a smile, but before she could open her lips to
+express her thanks, the youth had bowed, turned from the carriage, and
+was speeding his way up the rough mountain path, springing from crag to
+crag up to the ledge on which old Scythia's hut stood.
+
+Cora opened the parcel and found an inch-square little casket of red
+morocco. She opened this with a spring, and found a small gold heart
+reposing in a bed of white satin.
+
+"How pretty it is!" she said softly to herself, as she took the trinket
+from its case. "Look, grandma, what Rule has brought me for a Christmas
+gift! A little gold heart! A pure gold heart! His is a pure gold heart,
+is it not?" she added, earnestly, as she placed the trinket in the
+lady's hand.
+
+Mrs. Rockharrt looked at it with interest, and then passed it on to her
+eldest son.
+
+The ride was continued, and presently the carriage was driven off the
+boat and up the avenue leading to the house. As the vehicle drew up
+before the front doors, a pretty picture might have been seen through
+the drawing-room windows.
+
+A bright fireside, an old man reclining in his luxurious arm-chair; a
+beautiful girl seated on a hassock at his feet, reading to him, and at
+intervals lifting her lovely blue eyes in childish adoration to his
+face. They might have been grandfather and granddaughter, but they were,
+in fact, old Aaron Rockharrt and Miss Rose Flowers--Merlin and Vivien
+again, except that the Iron King was rather a rugged and unmanageable
+Merlin.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Meanwhile, Regulas Rothsay had climbed the rugged mountain path that led
+to Scythia's hut. On the back of the broad shelf of rock on which the
+hut stood was a hollow in the side of the precipice. Scythia had cleared
+out this hollow of all its natural litter. Before this apartment she had
+built another room, with no better material than fragments of rock found
+on the spot, and filled in with earth, moss and twigs. She had roofed
+this over with branches of evergreens piled thick and high, to keep off
+rain and sun. A heavy buffalo robe, fastened with large wooden pins at
+its top to the roof of the hut, served for a door. There was no window.
+In the inner or cavernous apartment she had built a rude fire-place and
+chimney going up through a hole in the rock. A pallet of rough furs and
+coarse blankets lay in one corner of this room, and a few rude cooking
+utensils occupied another. In the outer room there was a rough oak table
+and two chairs.
+
+Up before the edge of this natural shelf on which the hut stood appeared
+the tops of a thicket of pine trees that grew on the mountain side fifty
+feet below. Up behind this shelf arose other pines, height above height,
+until their highest tops seemed to pierce the clouds.
+
+When Rule reached this shelf, he found the tops of the pine trees, the
+ground, and the hut all covered with snow.
+
+"Good morning, mother! A merry Christmas to you!" said Rule, gayly.
+
+"I hope you have made yourself as comfortable as possible in this
+place," said the youth, anxiously.
+
+"Yes, Rule! always as happy and as much at ease as my past will permit."
+
+"Oh! what is--what was this terrible past?" inquired the youth--not for
+the first time.
+
+"It was, it is, and it ever will be! This past will be present and
+future so long as I live on this earth. And some day, when time and
+strife and woe have made you strong and hard and stern, I will lift the
+veil and show you its horrible face! But not now, my boy! not now! Come
+in."
+
+As the weird woman said this she led the way into the hut, where the
+rude table stood covered with a coarse white cloth and adorned with two
+white plates and two pairs of steel knives and forks. Here the Christmas
+dinner was eaten, and afterward the two began a close conversation.
+
+"Mother," said the youth, "I shall have to leave here to-morrow night. I
+should go away so much more contented if I could see you living down in
+the village among people. Here you are dwelling alone, far from human
+help if you should require it. The winter coming on!"
+
+"Rule! I hate the village! I hate the haunts of human beings! I love the
+wilderness and the wild creatures that are around me!"
+
+"But, mother, if you should be taken ill up here alone!"
+
+"I should get well or die; and it would not in the least matter which."
+
+"But you might linger, you might suffer."
+
+"I am used to suffering, and however long I might linger, the end would
+come at last. Recovery or death, it would not matter which."
+
+"Oh, Mother Scythia!" said the youth, in a voice full of distress.
+
+"Rule! I am as happy here as my past will permit me to be. I abhor the
+haunts of the human! I love the solitude of the wilderness. The time may
+come when you too, lad, shall hate the haunts of the human and long for
+the lair of the lion! You will rise, Rule! As sure as flame leaps to the
+air, you will rise! The fire within you will kindle into flame! You will
+rise! But--beware the love of woman and the pride of place! See!
+Listen!"
+
+The face of the weird woman changed--became ashen gray, her form became
+rigid, her eyes were fixed, her gaze was afar off in distant space.
+
+"What is it, mother?" anxiously demanded the youth.
+
+"I see your future and the emblem of your future--a splendid meteor,
+soaring up from the earth to the sky, filling space with light and
+glory! Dazzling a million of eyes, then dropping down, down, down into
+darkness and nothingness! That is you!"
+
+"Mother Scythia!" exclaimed the youth, in troubled tones.
+
+The weird woman never turned her head, nor withdrew her fearful, far-off
+stare into futurity.
+
+"That is you. You are but a poor apprentice. But from this year you will
+soar, and soar, and soar to the zenith of place and power among your
+fellows! You will be the blazing meteor of the day! You will dazzle all
+eyes by the splendor of your success, and then, 'in an instant, in the
+twinkling of an eye,' you will drop into night, and nothingness, and be
+heard of no more!"
+
+"Mother! Mother Scythia! Wake up! You are dreaming!" said Rule, laying
+his hand on the woman's shoulder and gently shaking her.
+
+"Oh, what is this? Rule! What is it?"
+
+"You have been dreaming, Mother Scythia."
+
+"Have I?" said the woman, putting her hands to her forehead and stroking
+away the raven locks that over-shadowed it.
+
+And gradually she recovered from her trance and returned to her normal
+condition. When Rule was quite sure that she was all right again, he
+said:
+
+"Mother Scythia, I am going to Rockhold to see the friends there who
+have been kind to me. But I will come back to spend the night with you."
+
+"Well, lad, go. Why should I try to hinder you? You must work out your
+destiny and bear your doom," she said, wearily, with her forehead bowed
+upon her hands, as if she felt the heavy prophetic cloud still
+over-shadowing and oppressing her.
+
+"Mother Scythia, why do you speak so solemnly of me, and I only in my
+nineteenth year?" gravely inquired the youth, who, though he had been
+accustomed to the weird woman's strange moods and stranger words and
+deemed them little less than the betrayals of insanity, yet now felt
+unaccountably troubled by them.
+
+"Yes; you are young, but the years fly fast; and I--I see the future in
+the present. But go, my boy! enjoy the good of the present--your best
+days, lad!--and come back this evening and you shall find your pallet of
+sweet boughs and soft blankets ready for you," she said.
+
+Rule stooped and kissed her corrugated forehead and then left the hut.
+
+The sun was setting behind the mountain, which threw a dark shadow over
+Scythia's Ledge and Rule's path, as he ran springing from rock to rock
+down the precipice to the river's side. It was dark when he reached the
+spot. But the lights from the windows of Rockhold on the opposite shore
+gleamed out upon the snow with splendid effect.
+
+Every window in the front of the building was shining with light that
+streamed out upon the snow; for the shutters had been left unclosed on
+purpose, this Christmas night.
+
+Rule crossed the ferry and went, as he had been used to go, to the back
+door, opening on the back porch, where, four years before, Cora used to
+keep school for her one pupil. He rapped at the door, and Sylvan sprang
+up and opened it. He was warmly welcomed, and spent a pleasant evening.
+The rest of his vacation was spent in a way equally pleasant, and at
+seven a.m., Monday, Rule was at work, type-setting in the _Watch_
+office.
+
+On the third of January following that Christmas there were three
+departures from Rockhold. Miss Rose Flowers went East to enter upon her
+new engagement. Corona Haught, in charge of her grandmother and her
+Uncle Clarence, went West to enter the Young Ladies' Institute, in the
+capital, and Master Sylvanus Haught went North, in the care of his Uncle
+Fabian, to enter a boy's school.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+A RETROSPECT.
+
+
+It was near the close of a cold, bright day early in January, that Mrs.
+Rockharrt and Corona Haught, escorted by Mr. Clarence, stepped from the
+train at the depot of the capital city of their State--which must, for
+obvious reason, be nameless--and were driven to the Young Ladies'
+Institute, where the girl was left, and as the adieus were being said it
+was explained to Cora that discretion and social conventionality
+dictated that her correspondence with young Rothsay should cease.
+Clarence stated that he would write to the youth and explain that the
+rules of the school, also, forbade such a correspondence.
+
+"I will also tell him that he can continue to send the _Watch_ to you,
+with his own paragraphs marked as before," said Corona's uncle. "There
+can be no law against that. I will correspond with Rule occasionally,
+and keep you posted up as to how he is getting on. There can be no
+school law against your uncle writing to you."
+
+Cora Haught graduated when she was eighteen. In all these years she had
+not seen Rule Rothsay. She only heard from him through his letters to
+her Uncle Clarence, reported second hand to herself. She knew that in
+these five years Rule had risen, step by step, in the office where he
+had begun his apprenticeship; that he had risen to be foreman, then
+sub-editor, and now he was part proprietor and one of the most powerful
+political writers on the paper.
+
+The workingmen's party wished to put him up as a candidate for the State
+legislature. What a power he would have been for their cause in that
+place! but when the subject was proposed to him, he admonished the
+spokesman that he was, as yet, a little less than of legal age for an
+office that required its holder to be at least twenty-five years old.
+
+After Cora's graduation the Rockharrt family spent a week in their town
+house, preparatory to a summer tour through the Northern States and
+Canada.
+
+One morning, while the whole family were sitting around the breakfast
+table, old Aaron Rockharrt suddenly spoke:
+
+"Fabian! Now that my granddaughter has left school, she will want a
+companion near her own age. Miss Rose Flowers would suit very well. Have
+you any idea where she is?"
+
+"Miss Rose Flowers, my dear sir, is now Mrs. Slydell Stillwater, the--"
+
+"Married!" interrupted all voices except that of the Iron King, who bent
+his heavy gray brows as he gazed upon his son.
+
+"Stuff and nonsense! How did you know anything about her marriage?"
+demanded old Aaron Rockharrt.
+
+"In the simplest and most natural way, sir. I saw it in the newspapers,
+about three years ago. And, in point of fact, I forgot it and should
+never have thought of it again but for your inquiries about the young
+woman this morning. Her husband is Captain Slydell Stillwater, captain
+and half owner of the East Indiaman Queen of Sheba," replied Mr. Fabian.
+
+"Poor child! To be parted from her husband more than half her time. Is
+Captain Stillwater now at sea?"
+
+"I think he must be, sir, as there has hardly been time for his return
+since he sailed soon after his marriage."
+
+"Do you know where Mrs. Stillwater lives?"
+
+"I do not, sir; but I might find out by inquiring of some mutual
+acquaintance."
+
+"Do so. And, Mrs. Rockharrt," the King added, turning to his little old
+wife, "you will write a note to Mrs. Stillwater, inviting her to join
+our party for a summer tour, and as our guest, remember. Fabian, you
+will see that the note reaches the lady in time."
+
+"I will do my best, sir," said Mr. Fabian.
+
+"Very well," said the wife.
+
+The note of invitation to Mrs. Stillwater was written. Mr. Fabian used
+such dispatch in his search for the lady that his efforts were soon
+rewarded with success. A letter came from Mrs. Stillwater, postmarked
+Baltimore, in which she cordially thanked Mrs. Rockharrt for her
+invitation, gratefully accepted it, and offered to join the Rockharrt
+party at any point most convenient to the latter. This answer was
+communicated to the family autocrat, who thereupon issued his commands:
+
+"Write and say to Mrs. Stillwater that we will stop at Baltimore on our
+way, and call for her at her hotel on Friday; but say that if she should
+not be ready, we will wait her convenience."
+
+This letter was also written and sent off.
+
+Three days later the whole family left the capital for Baltimore, which
+they reached at night. They went directly to the hotel where Mrs.
+Stillwater was staying, and engaged rooms for their whole party.
+
+They scarcely took time enough to wash the travel dust from their faces
+and brush it from their hair, and change their traveling suits for
+fresher dresses, before they hurried down stairs to their private
+parlor, whence Mrs. Rockharrt sent her own and her granddaughter's cards
+to Mrs. Stillwater's room.
+
+A few minutes after, the young siren appeared.
+
+"Heavens! how beautiful she is! More beautiful than before! Look, Cora!
+Was there ever such a perfect creature?" said Mr. Clarence, under his
+breath.
+
+Cora looked at her former governess with a start of involuntary wonder
+and admiration. Rose Stillwater was more beautiful than ever. Her
+exquisite oval face was a little more rounded. Her fair complexion had a
+richer bloom on the cheeks and lips. Her hair was darker in the shade
+and brighter in the light; her blue eyes were softer and sweeter; her
+graceful form fuller. She was dressed in some floating material that
+enveloped her figure like a cloud.
+
+She came, blooming, beaming, smiling, into the room, where all arose to
+meet her. She went first to Mr. Rockharrt, and bent and almost knelt
+before him, and raised his hand to her lips as if he had been her
+sovereign; and then, before he could respond--for she saw that he was
+slightly embarrassed as well as greatly pleased by this adoration--she
+turned and sank into the arms of old Mrs. Rockharrt, and cooed forth:
+
+"How sweet of you to remember your poor, lonely child and call her to
+your side!"
+
+"Why didn't you tell me you were going to be married, my dear?" was the
+practical question of the old lady.
+
+"It was shyness on my part. I dared not obtrude my poor affairs on your
+attention until you should notice me in some way," she meekly replied,
+and then she gracefully slipped out of Mrs. Rockharrt's embrace and went
+and folded Cora to her bosom, murmuring:
+
+"My own darling, how happy I am to meet you again! How lovely you are,
+my sweet angel!"
+
+"Oh, why did you not write to me that you were going to be married? I
+should have so liked to have been your bridesmaid!" complained Cora.
+
+"Sweetest sweet, if I had dreamed such honor and happiness were possible
+for me, I should have written and claimed them with pride and delight.
+But I dared not, my darling! I dared not. I was but a poor governess,
+without any claims to your remembrance, and should not now be with you
+had not the dear lady, your grandmamma, kindly recalled her poor
+dependant to mind and brought me into her circle."
+
+"Oh, Rose, do not speak so! I should hate to hear even the poorest maid
+in our house speak so. You were never grandma's dependant, or anybody's
+dependant. You were one of the noble army whom I honor more than I do
+all the monarchs on earth," said Cora earnestly.
+
+With remembrances and delightful chat the evening was wearing away, and
+it was time for the party to retire to rest.
+
+Two days after this the Rockharrts, with Cora Haught and Mrs.
+Stillwater, left Baltimore for the North, _en route_ for Canada and New
+Brunswick.
+
+The party went first directly to Boston, where they stayed for a few
+days, to attend the commencement of the collegiate school at which
+Master Sylvanus Haught was preparing himself to become a candidate for
+admission to the military academy at West Point; but where, as yet, he
+had not distinguished himself by application to his studies.
+
+On promising to do better, Sylvan was permitted to accompany his friends
+on their summer tour.
+
+The party spent the season in traveling, and it was not until the 15th
+of September that they set out on their return South. They reached
+Baltimore late in September, yet found the weather in that latitude
+still oppressively warm, and roomed at a hotel.
+
+Here it had been tacitly understood from the first that Mrs. Stillwater
+was to remain, while the rest of the party should proceed on their
+journey West.
+
+But the family despot had become so habituated to the incense hourly
+offered up to his egotism by Circe, that he felt her society to be
+essential to his contentment. So he issued his commands to his wife to
+invite Mrs. Stillwater to accompany the family party to Rockhold for a
+long visit.
+
+The old lady very willingly obeyed these orders, for she also desired
+the visit from the fascinator, whose presence kept the tyrant in a good
+humor and on his good behavior. So she pressed Rose Stillwater to
+accompany them to their mountain home.
+
+Rose Stillwater raised her beautiful soft blue eyes, brimming with tears
+that ever came at will, gazed sorrowfully, penitently, deprecatingly,
+into the lady's face and cooed:
+
+"I feel as if it were a sin to refuse you! You who have been a mother to
+me. And, oh! how dearly I should love to stay with you and wait on you
+forever and forever! I could not conceive a happier life! But duty
+constrains me to deny myself this delight, and to wrench myself away
+from all I love."
+
+"Duty? What duty, my dear girl? I do not understand that. You have no
+children to take care of, no house to look after, no husband to please,
+for Captain Stillwater is at sea. What duty, then, can you have which is
+so pressing as to keep you away from your friends?"
+
+"The Queen of Sheba was spoken and passed by the Liverpool and New York
+ocean steamer Arctic on Saturday, within three days' sail of land. And
+he may arrive here any hour. I must wait to receive him."
+
+"Indeed! I did not know that. My dear, I congratulate you on your coming
+happiness. I can urge you no more, of course. It is a sacred duty as
+well as a sweet delight for you to remain here and meet your husband.
+So, of course, we must resign ourselves to our loss; but I hope, my
+dear, that you and your husband will come together at an early date and
+make us a long visit."
+
+"I hope so, too, dearest lady!"
+
+When, a little later in the evening, the Iron King heard the result of
+this interview, he was--as his wife had feared--dreadfully disappointed,
+and consequently in one of his morose and diabolical tempers, and
+sullenly set his despotic will against the reasonable wishes of
+everybody else. He announced that they should all set forward the next
+day. It was high time they should all be at home looking after house and
+business. So it was settled.
+
+As the party needed rest, they retired very early.
+
+That night Cora Haught had a rather strange adventure, to relate which
+intelligibly I must describe the situation of their rooms.
+
+The suite occupied by the Rockharrt party was on the third floor of the
+house, and consisted of five rooms in a row, on the left hand side of
+the corridor, from the head of the stairs. The front room, overlooking
+an avenue, was tenanted by Mr. and Mrs. Rockharrt, the next one was
+occupied by Cora Haught, the third room was the private parlor of the
+suite, the fourth room was that of Mrs. Stillwater, and the fifth, and
+largest, was a double-bedded room, tenanted jointly by Mr. Fabian and
+Mr. Clarence. All these rooms had doors communicating with each other,
+and also with the corridor, all or any of which could be left open or
+made fast at discretion.
+
+Cora's room, between her grandparents' bed-chamber and their private
+parlor, was the smallest, the closest and the warmest of the suite. That
+September night was sultry and stifling. Scarcely a breath of air came
+from without.
+
+The girl could not sleep for the heat. Anathematizing her room as a
+"black hole" of Calcutta, she lay tossing from side to side, and
+listening for the hourly strokes of a neighboring clock, and praying for
+the night to be over. She heard that clock strike eleven, twelve, one.
+
+At length Cora thought that she would go into the private parlor next
+her own room to get a breath of fresh air. She felt sure that there she
+should be perfectly safe from intrusion, as she knew that the door
+leading from the parlor into the corridor was secured from within by a
+strong bolt, and the other two doors led, the one into her own little
+room, and the other, on the opposite side, into Mrs. Stillwater's. So
+that she would be as secluded as in her own chamber.
+
+She slipped on a thin, dark blue silk dressing gown, thrust her feet in
+slippers, opened the door and passed into the parlor.
+
+The room was very dark, still and cool. The two side windows overlooking
+the alley were open, and a rising breeze from the harbor blew in. Cora
+went and sat down in an easy chair in the angle of the corner between an
+open side window and her own room door.
+
+The room was pitch dark. The darkness, the coolness, and the stillness
+were all so soothing and refreshing to the girl's heated and excited
+nerves that she sank back in her high, cushioned chair and dozed off
+into sleep--into such a deep and dreamless sleep that she knew nothing
+until she was awakened, or rather only half awakened, by the sound of a
+key turning in a lock and a door creaking upon its hinges. The sound
+seemed to come from the direction of Mrs. Stillwater's room; but Cora
+was still half asleep, and almost unconscious of her whereabouts. As in
+a dream, she heard some one tiptoe slowly across and jar a chair in the
+deep darkness. She heard the bolt of the door leading into the corridor
+grate as it was slipped back. This awakened her thoroughly. She was
+about to call out:
+
+"Who is there?"
+
+Then a voice that she recognized even in its low, whispering tones spoke
+and arrested the words on her lips. It said:
+
+"Fabe! Fabe! is that you?"
+
+"Yes. Is all quiet?"
+
+"Yes; and has been so for hours. Come in. Pass around, feeling by the
+wall until you reach the sofa. If you attempt to cross the room, you may
+strike a chair or table and make a noise, as I did."
+
+The unseen man cautiously crept around by the wall, feeling his way, but
+occasionally striking and jarring a picture frame or looking glass as he
+passed, and muttering good-humored little growls of deprecation, and
+finally making the sofa creak as he struck and sat heavily down upon it.
+
+Cora was wide awake now, and quite cognizant of the identity of the
+invisible persons in the room as that of Mr. Fabian Rockharrt and Mrs.
+Rose Stillwater.
+
+It did not once occur to the girl that she was doing any wrong in
+remaining there, in the parlor common to the whole party. Surprise and
+wonder held her spellbound in her obscure seat.
+
+The sofa on which they sat was between the two windows. She reclined in
+the easy chair in the corner between the right-hand window and the door
+of her room. She was so near them that she might have touched the sofa
+by stretching out her hand.
+
+Without dreaming of harm, she overheard their conversation.
+
+Mr. Fabian was the first to speak.
+
+"I say, Rose," he began, "I have a deuce of a hard time to get a
+tete-a-tete with you. This is the first we have had for two months."
+
+"And we could not have had this but for the accidental arrangement of
+these convenient rooms," she whispered.
+
+"Exactly. We must arrange for future plans to-night. I understand that
+the old folks have been trying to persuade you to return home with us?"
+
+"Yes; but, of course, I shall not go."
+
+"Of course not; but how did you get out of it?"
+
+"Oh, by raising the old gentleman."
+
+"Do you mean the--the--the--de--"
+
+"Certainly not. I mean my husband, the gallant Captain Stillwater, of
+the East Indiaman Queen of Sheba, who has been spoken within three days'
+sail of port, and is expected here every hour. So that, you see, I must
+remain here to welcome my husband. It is my sacred duty," said the woman
+demurely.
+
+"Ha-ha-ha!" laughed Mr. Fabian, in a low, half-suppressed chuckle.
+
+"Hush! Oh, be careful! You will be heard!" murmured Rose Stillwater, in
+a frightened whisper.
+
+"What! at this hour? Why, everybody in this suite is in his or her
+deepest sleep. I say, Rosebud."
+
+"What?"
+
+"His Majesty the King of the Cumberland Mines has been in a demoniac
+humor ever since he learned that you were not coming home with us."
+
+"I know it, and I am very sorry for it, especially on his family's
+account, but I could not help it."
+
+"Certainly not. It would have been inconvenient and embarrassing. Look
+here, Rosalie."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"If the aged monarch was not such a perfect dragon of truth, honesty and
+fidelity, and all the cast-iron virtues, I should think that he was over
+head and ears in love with you."
+
+"Nonsense, Fabian! Mr. Rockharrt is old enough to be my grandfather, and
+his hair is quite gray."
+
+"If he were old enough to be your great-grandfather, and his hair was
+quite white, it need make no difference in that respect, my dear. The
+fires of Mt. Hecla burn beneath eternal snows."
+
+"What rubbish you are talking, Fabian! But--to change the subject--when
+will my house be ready? I warn you that I will not go back to that brick
+block on Main Street in your State capital."
+
+"You should not, Rosebella. Your home is finished and furnished; and a
+lovelier bower of roses cannot be found out of paradise! It is simply
+perfection, or it will be when you take possession of it."
+
+"Yes; tell me all about it," whispered the lady, eagerly.
+
+"It is a small, elegant villa, situated in the midst of beautiful
+grounds in a small, sequestered dell, inclosed with wooded hills rising
+backward into forest-crowned mountains, and watered by many little
+springs rising among the rocks and running down to empty into a
+miniature lake that lies shining before the house. It seems to be in the
+heart of the Cumberlands, in the depth of solitude, yet it is not
+fifteen minutes' walk by a forest footpath to the railway station at
+North End."
+
+"What shall we name this little Eden?"
+
+"Rose Bower, and the locality Rose Valley."
+
+"And when may I take possession?"
+
+"Whenever you please. All is prepared and waiting the arrival of Mrs.
+Stillwater, who has taken the house and engaged the servants through her
+agent, and who is expected to reside there during the absence of her
+husband, Captain Stillwater, on long voyages."
+
+"How long are these false appearances to be kept up, and when are our
+true relations to be announced?"
+
+"Before very long, my sweet!"
+
+"I hate this concealment! I know that I am a favorite with your father
+and mother, so I cannot see why you have not told them and will not tell
+them."
+
+"Now, Rosamunda, don't be a little idiot! Be a little angel, as you
+always have been! Am I not doing everything I can for your comfort and
+happiness, only asking you in turn to be faithful and patient until I
+can make you my wife before the whole world? My father does not like the
+idea of my marrying--anybody! If he knew we were engaged to each other,
+he would never forgive me, and that means he would cut me off from all
+share in the patrimony. And we could not afford to lose that! Let me
+tell you a secret, Rose. Though our firm does business under the name
+'Rockharrt & Sons,' yet 'Sons' have a merely nominal interest in the
+works while Rockharrt lives. So you see, I have very little of my own,
+and if the autocrat should learn, even by our own confession, that we
+had been--been--been--concealing our engagement from him, he would never
+forgive either of us."
+
+At this moment a step was heard passing along the corridor outside.
+
+It caused the two unseen inmates of the parlor to shrink into silence,
+and even when it had passed out of hearing it caused them, in renewing
+their conversation, to speak only in the lowest tones, so that Cora
+could no longer catch a word of their speech.
+
+She would before this have risen and retired to her own room; but she
+was afraid of making a noise, and consequently causing a scene.
+
+Were those two, her Uncle Fabian and Mrs. Stillwater, only secretly
+engaged? Secretly engaged? But whoever heard of a betrothed lover
+providing a home for his betrothed bride to live in before marriage! And
+then, again, was her Uncle Fabian really so dependent on his father as
+he had represented to Rose? Cora had always understood that he had a
+quarter share in the great business, and that Clarence had an eighth.
+And, worse than all, had they been so deceived as to the condition of
+Rose that, if she was Mrs. Stillwater at all, she was the widow and not
+the wife of Captain Stillwater, since she was engaged to be married, if
+not already married, to Mr. Fabian Rockharrt?
+
+Altogether the affair seemed a blinding and confusing tissue of
+falsehood and deception that amazed and repulsed the mind of the girl.
+
+Bewildered by the mystery, lulled by the hum of voices whose words she
+could not distinguish, fanned by the breeze from the harbor, and calmed
+by the darkness, the wearied girl sank back into her resting chair,
+closed her eyes, and lost the sequence of her thoughts in dreams--from
+which she presently sank into dreamless sleep, which lasted until she
+was awakened by the noise of the hotel servants moving about on their
+morning duties, opening windows, rapping at doors to call up travelers
+for early trains, dragging along trunks, and so on.
+
+At breakfast Cora watched Mr. Fabian and Rose, because she could not
+help doing so, and she certainly discovered signs of a secret
+understanding between them--signs so slight that they would have been
+unnoticed by any one who had not the key to the mystery. But how
+sickening and depressing was all this! Rose Flowers, or Stillwater, or
+Rockharrt--whichever name she could legally claim--was a fraud. Mr.
+Fabian Rockharrt was another fraud. Those two were secretly engaged or
+secretly married.
+
+After breakfast the party were ready for their journey Then came the
+leave-taking.
+
+Every one, except Cora Haught, shook hands warmly with Rose Stillwater.
+Mrs. Rockharrt embraced and kissed her fondly, and renewed and pressed
+her invitation to the beauty to come and make a long visit.
+
+Rose put her arms around the old lady's neck and clung to her, and, with
+tearful eyes and trembling tones and loving words, assured her that she
+would fly to Rockhold on the first possible opportunity, and, after many
+caresses, she reluctantly turned away and went toward Cora.
+
+The girl had lowered her blue veil, and tied it mask-like over her face,
+in a way that women often do, but which Cora never did, except on this
+occasion, when she wished to evade the sure to be offered kiss of Rose
+Stillwater.
+
+But Rose embraced her strongly and kissed her through the veil,
+endearments which the young girl could not repel without attracting
+attention, but which she only endured and did not return.
+
+The party reached Rockhold on the evening of the second day's travel.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt found himself so weary of traveling that he
+announced his intention of remaining in Rockhold for the entire winter,
+nor leaving it even to go to his town house for a few weeks during the
+session of the legislature.
+
+Cora was disappointed. She longed to go to Washington for the season--to
+go into company, to go to balls and parties, concerts and operas, to
+see new people and make new friends, perhaps to attract new admirers;
+and as she was now nineteen years of age, she need not be too severely
+criticised for so natural an aspiration.
+
+Mr. Fabian was the most zealous and active member of the firm. He would
+go to North End and stay two days at a time to be near his scene of
+duty.
+
+Time passed, but Rose Stillwater did not make her promised visit.
+
+Old Aaron often referred to it, and worried his wife to write to her and
+remind her of her promise. The old lady always complied with her
+husband's requirements, and wrote pressing letters; but the beauty
+always wrote back excusing herself on the ground of "the captain's" many
+engagements, which confined him to the ship and her to his side.
+
+So time passed, and nearly another year went by. The Rockharrts were
+still at Rockhold.
+
+A political crisis was at hand--the election for the State legislature.
+
+The candidate for representative of the liberal party in that election
+district was Regulas Rothsay.
+
+The election day came at length, as anxious a day for Cora Haught as for
+any one.
+
+It was a grand success, a glorious triumph for the printer boy and for
+the workingmen's cause as well. Rule Rothsay was elected representative
+for his district in the State legislature by an overwhelming majority.
+
+Cora was destined to a joyful surprise the next morning, when the
+domestic autocrat suddenly announced:
+
+"I shall take the family to my town house on the first of next week. My
+last bill, which was defeated last year, may be passed this session."
+
+Cora now, on the Irishman's principle of pulling the pig backward if
+you want him to go forward, ventured on the assurance of counseling her
+grandfather by saying:
+
+"I would not approach Mr. Rothsay on the subject of this bill, if I were
+you, sir."
+
+"But you are not I, miss!" exclaimed the old man, opening his eyes wide
+to stare her down. "And the new man is the very one to whom I shall
+first speak. He is the most proper person to present the bill. He
+represents my own district. His election is largely due to the men in my
+own employ. I am surprised that you should presume to advise upon
+matters of which you can know nothing whatever."
+
+Cora bowed to the rebuke, but did not mind it in the least, since now
+she felt sure of meeting Rule Rothsay in town.
+
+On the following Monday the Rockharrts went to town.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt met and compared notes with some of the lobbyists.
+
+One veteran lobbyist gave him what he called the key to the riddle of
+success.
+
+"You appealed to reason and conscience!" said he. "My dear sir, you
+should have appealed to their stomachs and pockets. You should have
+given them epicurean feasts, and put money in your 'purse' to be
+transferred to theirs!"
+
+"Bribery and corruption! I would lose my bill forever! And I would see
+the legislature--_exterminated_, before I would pay one cent to get a
+vote," said the Iron King. And he used a much stronger as well as much
+shorter word than the one underscored; but let it pass.
+
+As soon as the morning papers announced--among other arrivals--that of
+the new assemblyman, the Hon. Regulas Rothsay, Aaron Rockharrt sought
+out the young legislator, and explained that he wished to get a charter
+for a railroad that he wished to build. The company--all responsible
+men--had been incorporated some time, but he had never succeeded in
+getting a charter from the legislature.
+
+Rule saw that the enterprise would be a benefit to the community at
+large, and especially to the workingmen, the farmers, shop keepers and
+mechanics; so when he had heard all the old Iron King had to say on the
+subject, he promptly gave a promise which neither favor, affection nor
+self-interest could ever have won from him, but which reason, conscience
+and the public good constrained him to give--namely, to present the
+petition for the charter to the assembly, and to support it with all his
+might.
+
+After this Regulas Rothsay came often and more often, until at length he
+passed every evening with the Rockharrts when they were at home. Old
+Aaron Rockharrt esteemed him as he esteemed very, very few of his fellow
+creatures. Mrs. Rockharrt really loved him. Mr. Fabian and Mr. Clarence
+liked him. Cora admired and honored him. He was made so welcome in the
+family circle that he felt himself quite at home among them.
+
+On the second of January the first business taken up was that of the
+bill to charter the projected railroad. It was presented by Mr. Rothsay,
+and referred to the proper committee.
+
+The charter bill was reported with certain amendments, sent back again
+and reported again, with modified amendments, laid on the table, taken
+up and generally tormented for ten days, and then passed by a small
+majority.
+
+Rule had conscientiously done his best, and this was the result: Old
+Aaron Rockharrt thanked him stiffly.
+
+"You have worked it through, sir! No one but yourself could have done
+it! And it is a wonder that even you could do so with such a set of
+pig-headed rascals as our assemblymen. And now, will it pass the
+senate?"
+
+"I believe it will, Mr. Rockharrt. I have been speaking to many of the
+senators, and find them well disposed toward it," said Rule.
+
+To be brief, the bill was soon taken up by the senate; and after much
+the same treatment it had received in the assembly, it came safely
+through the ordeal, and was passed--again by a small majority.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt was triumphant, in his sullen, dogged and
+undemonstrative way.
+
+But having gained his ends, for which alone he had come to the city, he
+ordered his family to pack up and be ready to leave town for Rockhold
+the next day but one.
+
+But the worst was to come.
+
+When all the household were assembled at luncheon, he shot his last
+bolt.
+
+"Now look you here, all of you! We are going to Rockhold to-morrow. I do
+not wish to have any company there. I am tired of company! I hate
+company! I am going to the country to get rid of company. So see that
+you do not, any of you, invite any one to visit us."
+
+The next morning the Rockharrt family left town for North End, where
+they arrived early in the afternoon.
+
+A monotonous season followed, at least for the two ladies, who led a
+very secluded life at the dreary old stone house on the mountain side.
+
+Winter, spring, summer and autumn crept slowly away in, the lonely
+dwelling. In the last days of November he announced to his family, with
+the usual suddenness of his peremptory will, that he should go to
+Washington City for the winter, taking with him his wife and
+granddaughter, and leaving his two sons in charge of the works, and that
+they would be joined in Washington at Christmas by his grandson, for
+whom he was about to apply for admission into the military academy at
+West Point.
+
+Regulas called frequently, and his attentions to Cora were marked.
+
+The Rockharrt party went to Washington on the first of December, and
+took possession of the suite of rooms previously engaged for them at one
+of the large West End hotels.
+
+One morning, when Rule was out of the way, being on a canvassing round
+with Mr. Rockharrt among such members of Congress as had remained in the
+city, Sylvan suddenly asked his sister:
+
+"Cora, what's to make the pot boil?"
+
+"What do you mean?" inquired the young lady, looking up from "Bleak
+House," which she was reading.
+
+"Who's to get the grub?"
+
+"I--don't understand you."
+
+"Oh, yes, you do. What are you and Rothsay to live on after you are
+married? He is poor as a church mouse, and you are not much richer. You
+are reported to be an heiress and all that, but you know very well that
+you cannot touch a cent of your money until you are twenty-five years
+old, and not even then if you have married in the interim without our
+great Mogul's consent. Such are the wise provisions of our father's
+will. Now then, when you and Rule are married, what is to make the pot
+boil?"
+
+"There is no question of marriage between Mr. Rothsay and myself,"
+replied Cora, with a fine assumption of dignity, which was, however,
+quite, lost on Sylvan, who favored her with a broad stare and then
+exclaimed:
+
+"No question of marriage between you? My stars and garters! then there
+ought to be, for you are both carrying on at a--at a--at a most
+tremendous rate!"
+
+Cora took up her book and walked out of the room in stately displeasure.
+
+No; there had been no question of marriage between them; no spoken
+question, at least, up to this day.
+
+This was true to-day, but it was not true on the following day, when
+Cora and Rule, being alone in the parlor, fell into thoughtful silence,
+neither knowing exactly why.
+
+This was broken at last by Rule.
+
+"Cora, will you look at me, dear?"
+
+She raised her eyes and meet his fixed full and tenderly on hers.
+
+"Cora, I think that you and I have understood each other a long time,
+too long a time for the reserve we have practiced. My dear, will you now
+share the poverty of a poor man who loves you with all his heart, or
+will you wait for that man until he shall have made a home and position
+more worthy of you? Speak, my love, or if you prefer, take some time to
+think of this. My fate is in your hands."
+
+These were calm words, uttered with much, very much, self-restraint; yet
+eyes and voice could not be so perfectly controlled as language was, and
+these spoke eloquently of the man's adoration of the woman.
+
+She put her hand in his large, rough palm--the palm inherited from many
+generations of hard workers--where it lay like a white kernel in a brown
+shell, and she answered quietly, with controlled emotion:
+
+"Rule, I would rather come to you now forever, and share your life,
+however hard, and help your work, however difficult, than part from you
+again; or, if this happiness is not for us now, I would wait for
+years--I would wait for you forever."
+
+"God bless you! God bless you, my dear! my dear! But is not this in your
+own choice, Cora?"
+
+"No; it is in my grandfather's."
+
+"You are of age, dear."
+
+"Yes. But not because I am of age would I disobey his will. He has
+always done his duty by me faithfully. I must do mine by him. He is old
+now. I must not oppose him. He may consent to our union at once, for you
+are a very great favorite with him. But his will must be consulted."
+
+"Of course, dear. I meant to speak to Mr. Rockharrt after speaking to
+you."
+
+"And to abide by his wishes, Rule?"
+
+"If I must. But I would rather abide by yours only, since you are of
+age," said the young man.
+
+And what more was spoken need not be repeated here. The next day Rule
+Rothsay called early, and asked to see Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+"Ah! Ah! You come to tell me that you have seen Hunter, I suppose? How
+does he stand affected toward my bill?" exclaimed the Iron King,
+pointing to one chair for his guest and dropping into another himself.
+
+"The truth is, Mr. Rockharrt, I came to see you on quite another
+matter--"
+
+The young man paused. The old man looked attentive and curious.
+
+"It is a matter of the deepest interest to me--"
+
+Again Rule paused, for Mr. Rockharrt was looking at him with bent brows,
+staring eyes, and bristling iron gray hair and beard, or hair and beard
+that seemed to bristle.
+
+"Your granddaughter--" began Rule. "Your granddaughter has made me very
+happy by consenting to become my wife, with your approbation," calmly
+replied Rule.
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed the old man, in a peculiar tone, between surprise and
+derision. "And so you have come to ask my consent to your marriage with
+my granddaughter?"
+
+"If you please, Mr. Rockharrt."
+
+"And so that is the reason why you worked so hard to get my railroad
+bill through the legislature. Well, I always believed that every man had
+his price; but I thought you were the exception to the general rule. I
+thought you were not for sale. But it seems that I was mistaken, and
+that you were for sale, and set a pretty high price upon yourself,
+too--the hand of my granddaughter!"
+
+The young man was not ill-tempered or irritable. Perfectly conscious of
+his own sound integrity, he was unmoved by this taunt; and he answered
+with quiet dignity:
+
+"If you will reflect for a moment, Mr. Rockharrt, you will know that
+your charge is untrue and impossible, and you will recall it. I took up
+your railroad bill because I saw that its provisions would be beneficial
+to the small towns, tradesmen and farmers all along the proposed
+line--interests that many railroads neglect, to the ruin of parties most
+concerned. And I took up this cause before I had ever met your
+granddaughter since her childhood or as a woman."
+
+"That is true. Well, well, the selfish and mercenary character of the
+men, and women, too, that I meet in this world has made me, perhaps, too
+suspicious of all men's motives," said the champion egotist of the
+world, speaking with the air of the great king condescending to an
+apology--if his answer could be called an apology.
+
+Rule accepted it as such. He knew it was as near to a concession as the
+despot could come. He bowed in silence.
+
+"And so you want my granddaughter, do you?" demanded the old man.
+
+"Yes, sir; as the greatest good that you, or the world, or heaven, could
+bestow on me," earnestly replied the suitor.
+
+"Rubbish! Don't talk like an idiot! How do you propose to support her?"
+
+"By the labor of my brain and hands," gravely and confidently replied
+Rule.
+
+"Worse rubbish than the other! How much a year does the labor of your
+brain and hands bring you in?--not enough to keep yourself in comfort!
+And you would bring my granddaughter down to divide that insufficient
+income with you"
+
+"My income would provide us both with modest comforts," replied Rule.
+
+"I think your ideas and our ideas of comfort may differ importantly. Now
+see here, Mr. Rothsay, I do believe you to be a true, honest,
+straightforward man; I believe you are attracted to Cora by a sincere
+preference for herself, irrespective of her prospects; and you are a
+rising man. Wait a year or two, or three. Take a few steps higher on the
+ladder of rank and fame, and then come and ask me for my granddaughter's
+hand, and if you are both of the same mind, I will give it to you.
+There!"
+
+"Mr. Rockharrt--" began Rule.
+
+"There, there, there! I will not even hear of an engagement until that
+time shall arrive. How do I know how you will pass through the ordeal of
+a political career, or into what bad company, evil habits, riotous
+living, dissipation, drunkenness, bribery and corruption,
+embezzlements, ruin and disgrace you may not be tempted?"
+
+"Heaven forbid!" exclaimed Rule.
+
+"Amen! I believe you will stand the test, but I have seen too many
+brilliant and aspiring young politicians go up like a rocket and come
+down a burnt stick, to be very sure of any man in the same
+circumstances."
+
+"But, Mr. Rockharrt, such men were most probably brought up in wealth
+and luxury. They were not trained, perhaps, as I have been, in the hard
+but wholesome school of labor and self-denial."
+
+"There may be something in that; but if you advance it as an argument
+for me to change my mind in this matter of a prudent delay, it is thrown
+away upon me. You should know me well enough to know that I never change
+my mind."
+
+Rule did know it. But he answered earnestly:
+
+"I accept your conditions, Mr. Rockharrt. I will wait and work as long
+for Cora as Jacob did for Rachel, if necessary. Cora has been the
+inspiration of all that I have wrought, endured and achieved--and she
+was all that to me long before I dreamed of aspiring to her hand in
+marriage, and she will be as long as we both shall live in this world or
+the world to come."
+
+Rule bowed and left. He at once recounted to Cora the interview and the
+condition imposed on him.
+
+When the short season ended, and the city was tilted upside down and
+emptied like a bucket of half its contents, the Rockharrts went with the
+rest.
+
+Old Aaron was in his very worst fit of sullen ferocity. He had not been
+able to get a charter for clearing out the channel of the Cumberland
+River (another pet project of his), or even to form a company strong
+enough to undertake the enterprise.
+
+After a while, out of restlessness, he started with his wife,
+granddaughter and grandson for a tour to the Northern Pacific Coast. He
+spent some time in traveling through that region of country, and
+returned East.
+
+He stopped at West Point to leave Sylvan Haught, who had successfully
+passed his examination and received his appointment at the military
+academy.
+
+Then he took his womenkind home to Rockhold.
+
+A few days later young Rothsay was elected senator.
+
+Some weeks later Rothsay again pressed his suit on the attention of Mr.
+Rockharrt.
+
+But the old man was adamant.
+
+"No, sir, no! You must have a firmer foundation to build upon than the
+fickle favor of the public. Wait a year or two longer. Let us see
+whether your success is to be permanent."
+
+"But," urged Rule, "my chosen bride is twenty-three years of age, and I
+am twenty-seven. Time is flying."
+
+"What has that got to do with the question? If you were to marry this
+morning, would that stop the flight of time? Would not time fly just as
+fast as ever? Suppose you should not marry for two years? My
+granddaughter would then be twenty-five and you thirty, and many wise
+philosophers think that such are the relative ages at which man and
+woman should marry. Then the Iron King cast a thunderbolt. He said:
+
+"I am going to take my girl on a trip to Europe this summer. When we
+return, it will be time enough to talk about marriage."
+
+Rule bowed a reluctant admission to this mandate. He knew well that
+argument would be thrown away upon the Iron King, and he knew that, even
+if he himself were tempted to try to persuade Cora to marry him at
+present, she would not do so in opposition to her grandfather's will.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt had not as yet said one word to his family concerning his
+intended trip to Europe, although he had been thinking of it, and laying
+his plans, and making his arrangements, preparatory to the voyage, all
+the winter.
+
+So it was with amazement that Cora first heard of the matter from Rule
+Rothsay, who came to her to report the result of his last attempt to
+gain the consent of the old gentleman to his marriage with the
+granddaughter.
+
+A few days later the family despot announced to his subjects that he
+should start for Europe in two weeks, taking his wife and granddaughter
+with him, and leaving his two sons in charge of the works.
+
+Active preparations went on for the voyage. Mr. Rockharrt went every day
+to the works to lay out plans for the summer to be completed during his
+absence.
+
+Mrs. Rockharrt and Cora had few arrangements to make, for the autocrat
+had warned them that they were to take only sufficient for the voyage,
+as they could buy whatever they needed on the other side.
+
+A few days before they left Rockhold, Rule Rothsay came uninvited to
+visit his beloved Cora.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt happened to be the first to see him, and received him
+well.
+
+When they were seated, Rule said:
+
+"You refused to allow me to marry your granddaughter at present, and--"
+
+"Now begin all that over again, Rothsay. I said that in two years you
+can marry her and take her fortune, if you both choose, whether I like
+it or not. That is all."
+
+"Do you, however, sanction our engagement, Mr. Rockharrt? Shall your
+granddaughter and myself be betrothed, openly betrothed, so that all may
+know our mutual relations, before the ocean divides us? That is what I
+would know now. That is what I have come down here to ask."
+
+The old man ruminated for a few moments, and then answered:
+
+"Well, yes; you may be, with the understanding that you will wait to
+marry for two years longer. These two years will be a probation to both.
+If you fulfill the promise of your youth, and rise to the position that
+you can, if you will, attain, and if you remain faithful to her, and if
+she remains true to you, you may then marry. With all my heart I shall
+wish you well. But if either of you fail in truth and fidelity, the
+defaulting one, whether it be you or she, shall never look me in the
+face again," concluded the Iron King.
+
+Rule's eyes lighted up with the fire of love and faith. He seized the
+hand of the old man and shook it warmly, saying:
+
+"You have made me very happy by your words, Mr. Rockharrt, and I assure
+you, by all my hopes on earth or in heaven, that whatever may change in
+time or eternity, my heart will never vary a hair's breadth from its
+fidelity to its queen."
+
+"I believe you, or rather I believe you think so."
+
+A kind impulse, a rare one, moved the old man. Perhaps he reflected that
+these two young people might, have defied him and married without his
+consent had they pleased to do so; but they had submitted themselves to
+his will, and as his favorite motto told him that "Government is
+maintained by reward and punishment," he may have reasoned that this was
+an occasion for reward. So he said to the young man, who had risen, and
+was standing before him:
+
+"Rothsay, we shall leave here for New York on Tuesday, to sail by the
+Saturday's steamer for Liverpool. If your engagements admit of it, and
+if you would like to spend the intervening time near Cora, we should be
+pleased to have you stay here."
+
+Rule spent three happy days at Rockhold, and in the evening of the third
+day, the evening before they were to leave for Europe, he asked Mr.
+Rockharrt if he might have the privilege of attending the travelers to
+the seaport, and seeing them off by the steamer.
+
+The Iron King found no objection to this plan. Mrs. Rockharrt was
+pleased, and Cora was delighted with it.
+
+Accordingly, on the next morning, they left Rockhold for New York, where
+they arrived on the evening of the next day.
+
+And on Saturday morning they went on board the steamer Persia, bound for
+Liverpool.
+
+They bade good-by to Regulas Rothsay, on the deck, at the last moment.
+
+The signal gun was fired, and our party sailed away to a new life, in
+which the faith of a woman was to be tempted and lost, and the career of
+a man was to be wrecked.
+
+It was in the third year of their absence that they returned from the
+Continent to England. They reached London in February, in time to see
+the grand pageant of the queen opening parliament. After which they
+attended the first royal drawing room of the season, on which occasion
+Mrs. Rockharrt and Miss Haught were presented to her Majesty by the wife
+of the American minister.
+
+Cora Haught was a new beauty and a new social sensation. She was,
+indeed, more beautiful than she had been when she left America. A richly
+colored Southern brunette was unique among British blondes. It was for
+this, perhaps, she was so much admired.
+
+Moreover, she was reported to be the only descendant of her grandfather
+and the sole heiress of his fabulous wealth.
+
+There was at this time another _debutant_ in society, a young man, the
+Duke of Cumbervale, who had lately reached his majority and come into
+his estates, or what was left of them--an ancient castle and a few
+barren acres in Northumberland, an old hall and a few acres in Sussex,
+and a town house in London; but his title was an historical one. His
+person was handsome, his manners attractive, and his mind highly
+cultivated.
+
+Cora met him first at the queen's drawing room, and afterward at every
+ball and party to which she went.
+
+It was, perhaps, natural--very natural--that the handsome blonde man
+should be attracted by the beautiful brunette woman, without thought of
+the supposed fortune that might have redeemed his mortgaged estates and
+supported his distinguished title. But why should the betrothed of
+Regulas Rothsay have been fascinated by this elegant English aristocrat?
+
+Surely no two men were ever more diametrically opposite than the
+American printer and the English duke.
+
+Regulas Rothsay was tall, muscular, and robust, with large feet and
+hands, inherited from many generations of hard-working forefathers. His
+movements were clumsy; his manners were awkward, except when he was
+inspired by some grand thought or tender sympathy, when his whole person
+and appearance became transfigured. His sole enduring charms were his
+beautiful eyes and melodious voice.
+
+The Duke of Cumbervale was slight and elegant in form, with small,
+perfectly shaped hands and feet--derived from a long line of idle and
+useless ancestors--finely cut Grecian profile, pure, clear, white skin,
+fine, silken, pale yellow hair and mustache, calm blue eyes, graceful
+movements, and refined manners.
+
+Regulas Rothsay was a man of the people, who did not know any ancestry
+behind his laboring father, who could not have told the names of his
+grandparents.
+
+The Duke of Cumbervale was descended from eight generations of
+noblemen.
+
+Cora Haught saw and felt this contrast between the two men, so opposite
+in birth, rank, person, manner, character, and cultivation.
+
+Not all at once could she become an apostate to her faith, pledged to
+Rule. But, in truth, she had always loved him more as a sister loves a
+dear brother than as a maiden loves her betrothed husband. She had not
+seen him for three years. And she had seen so much since they had
+parted! In truth, his image had grown dim in her imagination.
+
+She wrote to him briefly from London that her engagements were so
+numerous as to preclude the possibility of her writing much, but that at
+the end of the London season they expected to return home. This was
+before she had--
+
+    "Foregathered with the de'il,"
+
+in the shape of the handsome, eloquent, and fascinating Duke of
+Cumbervale.
+
+Afterward a strange madness had seized her; a sudden revulsion of
+feeling, amounting almost to repugnance, against the rugged man of the
+people who had hewn out his own fortune, and who looked, she thought,
+more like a backwoodsman than a gentleman. Yes; it was madness--such
+madness as is sometimes the wreck of families.
+
+The duke grew daily more impressive in his attentions, and Cora more
+delighted to receive them. So the season went on. People began to
+connect the names of the Duke of Cumbervale and the beautiful American
+heiress.
+
+Just about this time old Aaron Rockharrt walked into the breakfast room
+of their apartments at Langham's with an American newspaper, which had
+just come by the morning's mail, in his hands.
+
+"Here is news!" he said. "Rothsay has been nominated as governor of
+----! But perhaps this is no news to you, Cora. You may have received a
+letter?" he added, turning to his granddaughter.
+
+"I had a letter from Mr. Rothsay yesterday, but he said nothing on the
+subject," replied the girl somewhat coldly.
+
+"Well, if he should be elected--and I really believe he will be, for he
+is the most popular man in the State--I shall throw no obstacles in the
+way of your immediate marriage with him. You have been engaged long
+enough--long enough! We shall set out for home on the first of next
+month, and so be in full time for the election."
+
+Cora did not reply. She grew pale and cold.
+
+The Iron King looked at his granddaughter, bending his gray brows over
+keenly penetrating eyes.
+
+"See here, mistress!" he said. "You don't seem to rejoice in this news.
+What is the matter with you? Have any of these English foplings and
+lordlings, with more peers in their pedigrees than pennies in their
+pockets, turned your head? If so, it is time for me to take you home."
+
+Cora did not reply. Only the night before, at the ball given by the
+Marchioness of Netherby, the Duke of Cumbervale had proposed to her, and
+had been referred to her grandfather. He was coming that very morning to
+ask the hand of the supposed heiress of the Iron King. Cora was that
+very day intending to write to Rule and tell him the whole truth, and
+ask him to release her from her engagement; and she knew full well that
+he would have no alternative but to grant her request.
+
+"Why do you not answer me, Corona? What is the matter with you?" again
+demanded old Aaron Rockharrt.
+
+But at that moment a waiter entered, and laid a card on the table before
+the old gentleman. He took it up and read:
+
+    THE DUKE OF CUMBERVALE.
+
+"What in the deuce does the young fellow want of me? Show him into the
+parlor, William, and say that I will be with him in a few minutes."
+
+The waiter left the room to do his errand, and was soon followed by Mr.
+Rockharrt, who found the young duke pacing rather restlessly up and down
+the room.
+
+"Good morning, sir," said old Aaron, with stiff politeness.
+
+The visitor turned and saluted his host.
+
+"Will you not be seated?" said Mr. Rockharrt, waving his hand toward
+sofa and chairs.
+
+The visitor bowed and sat down. The host took another chair and waited.
+There was silence for a short time. The old man seemed expectant, the
+young man embarrassed. At length, when the latter opened his mouth and
+spoke, no pearls and diamonds of wisdom and goodness dropped from his
+lips; he said:
+
+"It is a fine day."
+
+"Yes, yes," admitted the Iron King, taking his hands from his knees, and
+drawing himself up with the sigh of a man badly bored--"for London. We
+wouldn't call this a fine day in America. But I have heard it said that
+it is always a fine day in England when it don't pour."
+
+"Yes," admitted the visitor; and then he driveled into the most inane
+talk about climates, for you see this was the first time the poor young
+fellow had ever ventured to
+
+    "Beard the lion in his den,"
+
+so to speak, by asking: a stern old gentleman for a daughter's hand,
+and this Iron King was a very formidable-looking beast indeed.
+
+At length, Mr. Rockharrt, feeling sure that his visitor had come upon
+business--though he did not know of what sort--said:
+
+"I think, sir, that you are here upon some affairs. If it is about
+railway shares--"
+
+The old man was stopped short by the surprised and insolent stare of the
+young duke.
+
+"I know nothing of railway shares, sir," he answered.
+
+"Oh, you don't! Well, I did not think you did. In what other way can I
+oblige you?"
+
+Indignation generally deprives a man of self-possession, but on this
+occasion it restored that of the embarrassed lover. Feeling that he--the
+descendant of a dozen dukes, whose ancestors had "come over with William
+the Conqueror," had served in Palestine under King Richard, had
+compelled King John to sign the Magna Charta, had gained glory in every
+generation--was about to do this rude, purse-proud old tradesman the
+greatest honor in asking of him his granddaughter in marriage, he said,
+somewhat coldly:
+
+"Miss Haught has made me happy in the hope of her acceptance of my hand,
+pending your approval, and has referred me to you."
+
+The Iron King stared at the speaker for a moment, and then said, quite
+calmly:
+
+"Please to repeat that all over again, slowly and distinctly."
+
+The duke flushed to the edges of his hair, but he repeated his proposal
+in plain words.
+
+"You have asked Cora Haught to marry you?" demanded the Iron King.
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"What did she say?"
+
+"She did me the honor to give me some hope, and she referred me to you,
+as I have already explained."
+
+"I don't believe it!" blurted the old man.
+
+"Sir!" said the duke, in a low voice.
+
+"I don't believe it! What! My granddaughter--mine--break her faith and
+wish to marry some one else?"
+
+"Mr. Rockharrt," began the duke, in a smooth tone--though his blood was
+hot with anger--"I am sorry you should so forget the--"
+
+"I forget nothing. I remember that you charge my
+granddaughter--mine--with unfaithfulness! It is an insult, sir!"
+
+"Really, Mr. Rockharrt, I do not understand you."
+
+"I don't suppose you do! I never gave your order much credit for
+intelligence."
+
+Is this old ruffian mad or drunk? was the secret question of the duke,
+whose tone and manner, always calm and polite, grew even calmer and more
+polite as the Iron King grew more sarcastic and insulting.
+
+"I would suggest that you speak to Miss Haught on this subject, that she
+may confirm my statement," he said.
+
+"I shall do nothing of the kind! I shall not entertain for an instant
+the thought of the possibility of my granddaughter breaking her plighted
+faith."
+
+"I never knew that she was engaged. May I ask the name of the happy
+man?"
+
+"Regulas Rothsay; he is not a duke; he is a printer; also a senator, and
+nominated for governor of his native State; sure to be elected, and then
+he is to marry my granddaughter, who has been engaged to him many
+years."
+
+"But Miss Haught certainly authorized me to ask her hand of you."
+
+When did this extraordinary acceptance take place?"
+
+"Yesterday evening, at Lady Netherby's ball."
+
+"After supper?"
+
+"After supper."
+
+"That accounts for it! You took too much wine, and misunderstood my
+granddaughter's reply She must have referred you to me for an
+explanation of her engagement, and consequent inability to entertain any
+other man's proposal. That was it!"
+
+"May I refer you to Miss Haught for confirmation of my words?"
+
+"I say, as I said before, no."
+
+"May I see the young lady herself?"
+
+"No; but I will tell you something that may console you under your
+disappointment. I have seen in several of your papers, in the society
+columns, my granddaughter referred to as my sole heiress. I do not know
+who is responsible for these reports, but you may have believed them,
+though there is not a word of truth in them. My granddaughter is not my
+sole heiress; not my heiress in the slightest degree. I have two
+stalwart sons, partners in my business, both now in charge of the works
+at North End, Cumberland mountains, and managing them extremely well,
+else I could not be taking a long holiday here. These sons are heirs to
+all my property. Nor is my granddaughter the heiress of her late father.
+She has a brother, now a cadet at our military academy at West Point. He
+inherits the bulk of his father's estate. My granddaughter's fortune is,
+therefore, very moderate--quite beneath the consideration of an English
+nobleman," concluded the old man, very grimly.
+
+The young duke heard him out, and then answered;
+
+"I trust, sir, that you will credit me with better motives in seeking
+the hand of the young lady. It was her charm of person and of mind that
+attracted me to her."
+
+"Of course, of course; but, my dear duke, there is a plenty of sole
+heiresses among the wealthy trades-people of London who would be proud
+to buy a title with a fortune. Let me advise you to strike a bargain
+with one of them. Now, as I have pressing business on hand, you will
+excuse me."
+
+The young duke arose, with a bow, and left the room, muttering to
+himself: "What an unmitigated beast that old man is! I do like the girl;
+she is a beautiful creature, but--I am well out of it after all."
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt made no false pretense of business to get rid of his
+unwelcome visitor; he never made false pretense of any sort for any
+purpose. He had pressing business on hand, though it was business which
+had suddenly arisen during his interview with the duke, and had in fact
+come out of it. No sooner had the young man left the house than the Iron
+King went to the agency of the Cunard line, and secured staterooms for
+himself and party in the Asia, that was to sail on the following
+Saturday from Liverpool for New York.
+
+When he re-entered his parlor at the Langham, he found his wife and Cora
+seated there, the girl reading the _Court Journal_ to her grandmother.
+
+"Put that tomfoolery down, Cora, and listen to me, both of you! This is
+Wednesday. We leave London for Liverpool on Friday morning, and sail
+from Liverpool for New York on Saturday. So you sent that man to me,
+mistress?"
+
+"Yes, sir," without looking up.
+
+"For my consent to a marriage with him!"
+
+"Yes, sir!"
+
+"Then the fellow did not mistake your meaning! Cora Haught! I could not
+have believed that any girl who had any of my blood in her veins could
+be guilty of such black treachery as to break faith with her betrothed
+husband, and wish to marry another, just for the snobbish ambition to be
+a duchess and be called 'her grace'!" said the Iron King, with all the
+sardonic scorn and hatred of any form of falsehood that was the one
+redeeming trait in his hard and cruel nature.
+
+"Grandpa, it was not so! Indeed, it was not! Oh, consider! I had known
+Rule Rothsay from my childhood, and loved him with the affection a
+sister gives a brother; I knew of no other love, and so I mistook it for
+the love surpassing all others that a betrothed maiden should give her
+betrothed. But when I met Cumbervale and he wooed me, I loved truly for
+the first time! loved, as he loves me!" she concluded, with trembling
+lips and downcast eyes and flushed cheeks.
+
+"Stuff and nonsense! Don't talk to me about love or any such sentimental
+trash! I am talking of good faith between man and woman--words of which
+you don't seem to know the meaning!"
+
+"Oh, grandpa! yes, I do! But would it be good faith in me to marry Rule
+Rothsay, when I love Cumbervale?"
+
+"It would be good faith to keep your word, irrespective of your
+feelings, and bad faith to break it in consideration of your feelings!
+But you are too false to know this!"
+
+"Oh, sir! pray do not set your face against my marriage with Cumbervale,
+or insist on my marrying Rule! It would not be for Rule's good," pleaded
+Cora.
+
+"No; Heaven knows it would not be for his good! It had been better for
+Rothsay that he had been blown up in the explosion that killed his
+father, than that he had ever set eyes on your false face! But you have
+given him your word, and you must keep it, or never look me in the face
+again! You shall be married as soon as we reach Rockhold."
+
+Cora raised her tearful face from her hands, and looked astonished and
+wretched.
+
+"Oh, you may gaze, but it is true. The fortune hunter has discovered
+that he is on a false scent. There is no fortune on the trail. I told
+him everything about you. I told him that you were not my heiress at
+all, because I had two sons who would inherit all my property; that you
+were not even your father's heiress, because you had a brother who would
+inherit the larger portion of his; that, in point of fact, you were only
+moderately provided for. He was startled, I assure you. I also told him
+that for years you had been engaged to a young printer in your native
+country, who would probably be the next governor of his native State. He
+bowed himself out. I engaged our passage to New York by the Saturday's
+steamer. You will never see the little dandy again. He was after a
+fortune, and finding that you have none, he has forsaken you--and served
+you right, for a base, treacherous, and contemptible woman, unworthy
+even of his regard; for you are much lower in every way than he is, for
+while he was seeking a fortune and you were seeking a title, you were
+concealing from him the fact of your engagement to Rule Rothsay. You
+were doubly false to Rule and to Cumbervale. Oh, Cora Haught! Cora
+Haught! Are you not ashamed of yourself! Ashamed to look any honest man
+or woman in the face! Ah! you do well to hide yours!" he concluded, for
+Cora had lost all self-control, dropped her head upon her hands, and
+burst into hysterical sobs and tears.
+
+Did you ever see a small bantam hen ruffle up all her feathers in angry
+defense of her chick? So did poor little, timid Mrs. Rockharrt in
+protection of her pet. She ventured to expostulate with her tyrant for,
+perhaps, the first time in their married life.
+
+"Oh, Aaron, do not scold the child so severely. She is but human. She
+has only been dazzled and fascinated by the young duke's rank, and
+beauty, and elegance. She could not help it, being thrown in his company
+so much. And you know they say that half the girls in London society are
+in love with the handsome duke. We will take her home, and she will come
+all right, and be our own, dear, faithful Cora again, and--"
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt, who had gazed at his wife in speechless
+astonishment at her audacity in reasoning with him, now burst forth
+with:
+
+"Hold your jaw, madam," and strode out of the room.
+
+A minute later a waiter came in and laid a note on the table before Cora
+and immediately withdrew.
+
+Cora took the missive, recognized the handwriting and seal, tore it open
+and eagerly ran her eyes along the lines. This was the note:
+
+    CUMBERVALE LODGE, LONDON,
+    May, 1, 18--
+
+    MISS HAUGHT: For my indiscretion of last evening I owe
+    you an humble apology, which I beg you to accept with this
+    explanation, that, had I known, or even suspected, that your hand
+    was already promised in another quarter, I should never have
+    presumed to propose for it. I beg now to withdraw such a false
+    step.
+
+    Accept my best wishes for your happiness in a union with the more
+    fortunate man of your choice, and believe me to be now and ever,
+
+    Your obedient servant,
+
+    CUMBERVALE.
+
+Scarcely had Cora's eyes fallen from the paper when Lady Pendragon's
+carriage drove up to the door.
+
+Glad of the interruption that enabled her to escape from the parlor, and
+give way to the passion and grief and despair that were swelling her
+heart to breaking, Cora hastened to her bed chamber and threw herself
+down upon the couch in a paroxysm of sobs and tears.
+
+Mrs. Rockharrt waited in the parlor to receive the visitor, but no
+visitor came up. Only two cards were left for the two ladies, and then
+the Countess of Pendragon rolled away in her carriage.
+
+On Friday morning the Rockharrts left London. And on Saturday morning
+they sailed from Liverpool. After a prosperous voyage of ten days they
+landed at New York.
+
+"My soul! there is Rothsay on the pier, waving his hand to us!"
+exclaimed the Iron King, as he led his little wife down the gang plank,
+while Cora came on behind them.
+
+Yes; there was Rule, his tall figure towering above the crowd on the
+pier, his rugged face beaming with delight, his hand waving welcome to
+the returning voyagers. He received his friends as they stepped upon the
+pier. He shook hands warmly with Mrs. Rockharrt, heartily with the Iron
+King, and then, behind them, with Cora, and before Cora knew what was
+coming she was folded in the arms and to the faithful breast of her
+life-long lover--only for a moment; and then he drew her arm within his
+own and led her on after the elder couple, whispering:
+
+"Dear, this is the happiest day I have ever seen as yet, but a happier
+one is coming--soon, I hope. Dear, how soon shall it be?"
+
+"You must ask my grandparents, Rule. Their judgment and their
+convenience must be consulted," she answered in a low, steady tone.
+
+She had no thought now of breaking her engagement with Rule, though her
+heart seemed breaking. She still loved that rugged man with the sisterly
+affection she had always felt for him, and which, in her ignorance of
+life and self, she had mistaken for a warmer sentiment, and resolved, in
+wedding him, to do her whole duty by him for so long as she should live,
+and she hoped and believed that that would not be very long.
+
+Rothsay led the way to a carriage. When all were seated in this, the old
+man leant toward the young one, and said:
+
+"Well, I haven't had a chance to ask you yet. The election is over. How
+did it go? Who is their man?"
+
+"They chose me," answered Rothsay, simply.
+
+Cora Haught's bosom was wrung by hopeless passion and piercing remorse.
+
+Yet she tried to do her whole duty.
+
+"If it craze or kill me I will wed Rule, and he shall never know what it
+costs me to keep my word," she said to herself, as she lay sleepless and
+restless in her bed on the night before her wedding morn. "Yes; I will
+do my duty and keep my secret even unto death."
+
+"'Even unto death!' but unto whose death?" whispered a voice close to
+her ear--a voice clear, distinct, penetrating.
+
+Cora started and opened her eyes. No one was near her. She sat up in
+bed, and looked around the apartment. The night taper, standing on the
+hearth, burned low. The dimly lighted room was vacant of any human being
+except herself.
+
+"I have been dreaming," she said, and she laid down and tried to compose
+herself to sleep again. In vain! Memories of the near past, dread of the
+nearer future, contended in her soul, filling her with discord. When
+Cora arose on her wedding morning, she said to herself:
+
+"Yes, this day I am going to marry Rule, dear, loving, faithful,
+hard-working, self-denying Rule! A monarch among men, if greatness of
+soul could make a monarch. In that sense no woman, peeress or princess,
+ever made a prouder match. May Heaven make me worthier of him! May
+Heaven help me to be a true, good wife to him!"
+
+She said these words to herself, but oh! oh! how she shuddered as she
+breathed them, and how she reproached herself for such shuddering! The
+girl's whole nature was at war with itself. Yet through all the terrible
+interior strife she kept her firm determination to be faithful to Rule;
+to go through the ordeal before her, even though it should cost her life
+or reason.
+
+The external circumstances of this wedding were given in the first
+chapter, and need not be repeated here.
+
+My readers may remember the marble-like stillness of the bride as she
+sat in her bridal robes, looking out from the front window of her
+chamber on the bright and festive scene below, where all the work people
+from the mines and foundries were assembled; they will remember how she
+shivered when she was summoned with her bridesmaids to meet her
+bridegroom and his attendants in the hall below; how when she met him at
+the foot of the stairs she shrank from his greeting--emotion in which he
+in his simple, loyal soul saw no repugnance, but only maiden reserve to
+be reverenced, as he drew her arm within his own to lead her before the
+bishop; how she faltered during the whole of the marriage ceremony; how
+like a woman in a trance she passed through the scenes of the wedding
+breakfast and those that immediately followed it; how in her own room,
+where she went to change her wedding dress for a traveling suit, and
+whither her gentle old grandmother had followed her for a private
+parting, she had answered the old lady's anxious question as to whether
+she was "happy," first by silence and then by muttering that her heart
+was too full for speech; how when the bridegroom and the bride had
+taken leave of all their friends at Rockhold, and were seated
+_tete-a-tete_ in their traveling carriage, bowling along the river road,
+at the base of the East Ridge toward the North End railway station, when
+he passed his arm around her and drew her to his heart and murmured of
+his love and his joy in her ear, and pleaded for some response from her,
+she had only said that her heart was too full for speech, and he in his
+confiding spirit had perceived no evasion in her reply, but thought, if
+her heart was full, it was with responsive love for him.
+
+My readers will recollect the railway journey to the State capital; the
+procession through the decorated streets between the crowded sidewalks
+from the railway station to the town house of Mr. Rockharrt, which had
+been placed at the disposal of the governor-elect for the interval
+between his arrival in the State capital and his inauguration.
+
+The committee of reception escorted them to the gates of the Rockharrt
+mansion and left them at the door. There we also left them, in the
+second chapter of this story--and there we return to them in this place.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+THE GREAT RENUNCIATION.
+
+
+When the governor-elect and his bride entered the Rockharrt town house,
+they were received by a group of obsequious servants, headed by Jason,
+the butler, and Jane, the housekeeper, and among whom stood Martha,
+lady's maid to the new Mrs. Rothsay.
+
+"Will you come into the drawing room and rest, dear, before going
+upstairs?" inquired Mr. Rothsay of his bride, as they stood together in
+the front hall.
+
+"No, thank you. I will go to my room. Come, Martha!" said the bride, and
+she went up stairs, followed by her maid.
+
+Rule stood where she had so hastily left him, in the hall, looking so
+much at a loss that presently Jason volunteered to say:
+
+"Shall I show you to your apartment, sir?"
+
+"Yes," answered Mr. Rothsay. And he followed the servant up stairs to a
+large and handsomely furnished bed chamber, having a dressing room
+attached.
+
+Jason lighted the wax candles on the dressing table and on the mantel
+piece, and then inquired:
+
+"Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?"
+
+"No," replied Mr. Rothsay.
+
+And the servant retired.
+
+Rothsay was alone in the room. He had never set up a valet; he had
+always waited on himself. Now, however, he was again at a loss. He was
+covered with railway dust and smoke, yet he saw no conveniences for
+ablution.
+
+While he stood there, a shout arose in the street outside. A single
+voice raised the cheer:
+
+"Hoo--rah--ah--ah for Rothsay!"
+
+He went to the front window of the room. The sashes were hoisted, for
+the night was warm; but the shutters were closed. He turned the slats a
+little and looked down on the square below. It was filled with
+pedestrians, and every window of every house in sight was illuminated.
+When the shouts had died away, he heard voices in the room. He was
+himself accidentally concealed by the window curtains. He looked around
+and saw his bride emerge from the dressing room, attired in an elegant
+dinner costume of rich maize-colored satin and black lace, with
+crocuses in her superb black hair. She passed through the room without
+having seen him, and went down stairs followed by her maid.
+
+He saw the door of the dressing room standing open and went into it. It
+was no mere closet, but a large, well lighted and convenient apartment,
+furnished with every possible appurtenance for the toilet. Here he found
+his trunk, his valise, his dressing case, all unpacked--his brushes and
+combs laid out in order, his dinner suit hung over a rack--every
+requirement of his toilet in complete readiness as if prepared by an
+experienced valet. All this he had been accustomed to do, and expected
+to do, for himself. Who had served him? Had Corona and her maid?
+Impossible!
+
+He quickly made a refreshing evening toilet and went down stairs, for he
+was eager to rejoin his bride. He found her in the drawing room; but
+scarcely had he seated himself at her side when the door was opened and
+dinner announced by Jason.
+
+They both arose; he gave her his arm, and they followed the solemn
+butler to the dining room, which was on the opposite side of the front
+hall and in the rear of the library.
+
+An elegant tete-a-tete dinner but for the presence of the old butler and
+one young footman who waited on them.
+
+They did not linger long at table, but soon left it and returned
+together to the drawing room.
+
+They had scarcely seated themselves when the door bell rang, and in a
+few moments afterward a card was brought in and handed to Mr. Rothsay,
+who took it and read:
+
+A.B. Crawford.
+
+"Show the judge into the library and say that I will be with him in a
+few moments," he said to the servant.
+
+"He is one of the judges of the supreme court of the State, dear, and I
+must go to him. I hope he will not keep me long," said Mr. Rothsay, as
+he raised the hand of his bride to his lips and then left the room.
+
+With a sigh of intense relief Cora leaned back in her chair and closed
+her eyes.
+
+People have been known to die suddenly in their chairs. Why could not
+she die as she sat there, with her whole head heavy and her whole heart
+faint, she thought.
+
+She listened--fearfully--for the return of her husband, but he did not
+come as soon as he had hoped to do; for while she listened the door bell
+rang again, and another visitor made his appearance, and after a short
+delay was shown into the library.
+
+Then came another, and still another, and afterward others, until the
+library must have been half full of callers on the governor-elect.
+
+And presently a large band of musicians halted before the house and
+began a serenade. They played and sang "Hail to the Chief," "Yankee
+Doodle," "Hail Columbia," and other popular or national airs.
+
+Mr. Rothsay and his friends went out to see them and thank them, and
+then their shouts rent the air as they retired from the scene.
+
+The gentlemen re-entered the house and retired to the library, where
+they resumed their discussion of official business, until another
+multitude had gathered before the house and shouts of--
+
+"Hoo-rah-ah ah for Rothsay!" rose to the empyrean.
+
+Neither the governor-elect nor his companions responded in any way to
+this compliment until loud, disorderly cries for--
+
+"Rothsay!"
+
+"Rothsay!"
+
+"Rothsay!"
+
+constrained them to appear.
+
+The governor-elect was again greeted with thundering cheers. When
+silence was restored he made a short, pithy address, which was received
+with rounds of applause at the close of every paragraph.
+
+When the speech was finished, he bowed and withdrew, and the crowd, with
+a final cheer, dispersed.
+
+Mr. Rothsay retired once more to the library, accompanied by his
+friends, to renew their discussion.
+
+Cora, in her restlessness of spirit, arose from her seat and walked
+several times up and down the floor.
+
+Presently, weary of walking, and attracted by the coolness and darkness
+of the back drawing room, in which the chandeliers had not been lighted,
+she passed between the draped blue satin portieres that divided it from
+the front room and entered the apartment.
+
+The French windows stood open upon a richly stored flower garden, from
+which the refreshing fragrance of dewy roses, lilies, violets, cape
+jasmines, and other aromatic plants was wafted by the westerly breeze.
+
+Cora seated herself upon the sofa between the two low French windows,
+and waited.
+
+Presently she heard the visitors taking leave.
+
+"The committee will wait on you between ten and eleven to-morrow
+morning," she heard one gentleman say, as they passed out.
+
+Then several "good nights" were uttered, and the guests all departed,
+and the door was closed.
+
+Cora heard her husband's quick, eager step as he hurried into the front
+drawing room, seeking his wife.
+
+She felt her heart sinking, the high nervous tension of her whole frame
+relaxing. She heard the hall clock strike ten. When the last stroke died
+away, she heard her husband's voice calling, softly:
+
+"Cora, love, wife, where are you?"
+
+She could bear no more. The overtasked heart gave way.
+
+When, the next instant, the eager bridegroom pushed aside the satin
+portieres and entered the apartment, with a flood of light from the room
+in front, he found his bride had thrown herself down on the Persian rug
+before the sofa in the wildest anguish and despair and in a paroxysm of
+passionate sobs and tears.
+
+What a sight to meet a newly-made, adoring husband's eyes on his
+marriage evening and on the eve of the day of his highest triumph, in
+love as in ambition!
+
+For one petrified moment he gazed on her, too much amazed to utter a
+word.
+
+Then suddenly he stooped, raised her as lightly as if she had been a
+baby, and laid her on the sofa.
+
+"Cora--love--wife! Oh! what is this?" he cried, bending over her.
+
+She did not answer; she could not, for choking sobs and drowning tears.
+
+He knelt beside her, and took her hand, and bent his face to hers, and
+murmured:
+
+"Oh, my love! my wife! what troubles you?"
+
+She wrenched her hand from his, turned her face from him, buried her
+head in the cushions of the sofa, and gave way to a fresh storm of
+anguish.
+
+When she repulsed him in this spasmodic manner, he recoiled as a man
+might do who had received a sudden blow; but he did not rise from his
+position, but watched beside her sofa, in great distress of mind,
+patiently waiting for her to speak and explain.
+
+Gradually her tempest of emotion seemed to be raging itself into the
+rest of exhaustion. Her sobs and tears grew fainter and fewer; and
+presently after that she drew out her handkerchief, and raised herself
+to a sitting position, and began to wipe her wet and tear-stained face
+and eyes. Though her tears and sobs had ceased, still her bosom heaved
+convulsively.
+
+He arose and seated himself beside her, put his arm around her, and drew
+her beautiful black, curled head upon his faithful breast, and bending
+his face to hers, entreated her to tell him the cause of her grief.
+
+"What is it, dear one? Have you had bad news? A telegram from Rockhold?
+Either of the old people had a stroke? Tell me, dear?"
+
+"Nothing--has--happened," she answered, giving each word with a gasp.
+
+"Then what troubles you, dear? Tell me, wife! tell me! I am your
+husband!" he whispered, smoothing her black hair, and gazing with
+infinite tenderness on her troubled face.
+
+"Oh, Rule! Rule! Rule!" she moaned, closing her eyes, that could not
+bear his gaze.
+
+"Tell me, dear," he murmured, gently, continuing to stroke her hair.
+
+"I am--nervous--Rule," she breathed. "I shall get over it--presently.
+Give me--a little time," she gasped.
+
+"Nervous?" He gazed down on her woe-writhen face, with its closed eyes
+that would not meet his own. Yes, doubtless she was nervous--very
+nervous--but she was more than that. Mere nervousness never blanched a
+woman's face, wrung her features or convulsed her form like this.
+
+"Cora, look at me, dear. There is something I have to say to you."
+
+She forced herself to lift her eyelids and meet the honest, truthful
+eyes that looked down into hers.
+
+"Cora," he said, with a certain grave yet sweet tone of authority,
+"there is some great burden on your mind, dear--a burden too heavy for
+you to bear alone."
+
+"Oh, it is! it is! it is!" she wailed, as if the words had broken from
+her without her knowledge.
+
+"Then let me share it," he pleaded.
+
+"Oh, Rule! Rule! Rule!" she wailed, dropping her head upon his breast.
+
+"Is your trouble so bitter, dear? What is it, Cora? It can be nothing
+that I may not share and relieve. Tell me, dear."
+
+"Oh, Rule, bear with me! I did not wish to distress you with my folly,
+my madness. Do not mind it, Rule. It will pass away. Indeed, it will. I
+will do my duty by you. I will be a true wife to you, after all. Only do
+not disturb your own righteous spirit about me, do not notice my moods;
+and give me time. I shall come all right. I shall be to you--all that
+you wish me to be. But, for the Lord's love, Rule, give me time!" she
+pleaded, with voice and eyes so full of woe that the man's heart sank in
+his bosom.
+
+He grew pale and withdrew his arm from her neck. She lifted her head
+from his breast then and leaned back in the corner of the sofa. She
+trembled with fear now, lest she had betrayed her secret, which she had
+resolved to keep for his own sake. She looked and waited for his words.
+He was very still, pale and grave. Presently he spoke very gently to the
+grieving woman.
+
+"Dear, you have said too much and too little. Tell me all now, Cora. It
+is best that you should, dear."
+
+"Rule! oh, Rule! must I? must I?" she pleaded, wringing her hands.
+
+"Yes, Cora; it is best, dear."
+
+"Oh, I would have borne anything to have spared you this. But--I
+betrayed myself. Oh, Rule, please try to forget what you have seen and
+heard. Bear with me for a little while. Give me some little time to get
+over this, and you shall see how truly I will do my duty--how earnestly
+I will try to make you happy," she prayed.
+
+"I know, dear--I know you will be a good, dear wife, and a dearly loved
+and fondly cherished wife. But begin, dear, by giving me your
+confidence. There can be no real union without confidence between
+husband and wife, my Cora. Surely, you may trust me, dear," he said,
+with serious tenderness.
+
+"Yes; I can trust you. I will trust you with all, through all, Rule. You
+are wise and good. You will forgive me and help me to do right." She
+spoke so wildly and so excitedly that he laid his hand tenderly,
+soothingly, on her head, and begged her to be calm and to confide in him
+without hesitation.
+
+Then she told him all.
+
+What a story for a newly-married husband to hear from his wife on the
+evening of their wedding day!
+
+He listened in silence, and without moving a muscle of his face or form.
+When he had heard all he arose from the sofa, stood up, then reeled to
+an arm chair near at hand and dropped heavily into it, his huge,
+stalwart frame as weak from sudden faintness as that of an infant.
+
+"Oh, Rule! Rule! your anger is just! It is just!" cried Cora, wringing
+her hands in despair.
+
+He looked at her in great trouble, but his beautiful eyes expressed only
+the most painful compassion. He could not answer her. He could not trust
+himself to speak yet. His breast was heaving, working tumultuously. His
+tawny-bearded chin was quivering. He shut his lips firmly together, and
+tried to still the convulsion of his frame.
+
+"Oh, Rule, be angry with me, blame me, reproach me, for I am to
+blame--bitterly, bitterly to blame. But do not hate me, for I love you,
+Rule, with a sister's love. And forgive me, Rule--not just now, for
+that would be impossible, perhaps. But, oh! do forgive me after a while,
+Rule, for I do repent--oh, I do repent that treason of the heart--that
+treason against one so worthy of the truest love and honor which woman
+gives to man. You will forgive me--after a while--after a--probation?"
+
+She paused and looked wistfully at his grave, pained, patient face.
+
+He could not yet answer her.
+
+"Oh, if you will give me time, Rule, I will--I will banish every
+thought, every memory of my--my--my season in London, and will devote
+myself to you with all my heart and soul. No man ever had, or ever could
+have, a more devoted wife than I will be to you, if you will only trust
+me and be happy, Rule. Oh!" she suddenly burst forth, seeing that he did
+not reply to her, "you are bitterly angry with me. You hate me. You
+cannot forgive me. You blame me without mercy. And you are right. You
+are right."
+
+Now he forced himself to speak, though in a low and broken voice.
+
+"Angry? With you, Cora? No, dear, no."
+
+"You blame me, though. You must blame me," she sobbed.
+
+"Blame you? No, dear. You have not been to blame," he faltered, faintly,
+for he was an almost mortally wounded man.
+
+"Ah! what do you mean? Why do you speak to me so kindly, so gently? I
+could bear your anger, your reproaches, Rule, better than this
+tenderness, that breaks my heart with shame and remorse!" cried Cora,
+bursting into a passion of sobs and tears.
+
+He did not come near her to take her in his arms and comfort her as
+before. A gulf had opened between them which he felt that he could not
+pass, but he spoke to her very gently and compassionately.
+
+"Do not grieve so bitterly, dear," he said. "Do not accuse yourself so
+unjustly. You have done no wrong to me, or to any human being. You have
+done nothing but good to me, and to every human being in your reach. To
+me you have been more than tongue can tell--my first friend, my muse, my
+angel, my inspiration to all that is best, greatest, highest in human
+life--the goal of all my earthly, all my heavenly aspirations. That I
+should love you with a pure, single, ardent passion of enthusiasm was
+natural, was inevitable. But that you, dear, should mistake your
+feelings toward me, mistake sisterly affection, womanly sympathy,
+intellectual appreciation, for that living fire of eternal love which
+only should unite man and woman, was natural, too, though most
+unfortunate. I am not fair to look upon, Cora. I have no form, no
+comeliness, that any one should--"
+
+He was suddenly interrupted by the girl, who sprang from her seat and
+sank at his feet, clasped his knees, and dropped her head upon his hands
+in a tempest of sobs and tears, crying:
+
+"Oh, Rule! I never did deserve your love! I never was worthy of you! And
+I long have known it. But I do love you! I do love you! Oh, give me time
+and opportunity to prove it!" she pleaded, with many tears, saying the
+same words over and over again, or words with the same meaning.
+
+He laid both his large hands softly on her bowed head and held them
+there with a soothing, quieting, mesmeric touch, until she had sobbed,
+and cried, and talked herself into silence, and then he said:
+
+"No, Cora! No, dear! You are good and true to the depths of your soul;
+but you deceive yourself. You do not love me. It is not your fault. You
+cannot do so! You pity, you esteem, you appreciate; and you mistake
+these sentiments as you mistook sisterly affection for such love as only
+should sanctify the union of man and woman."
+
+"But I will, Rule. I will love you even so! Give me time! A little time!
+I am your own," she pleaded.
+
+"No, dear, no. I am sure that you would do your best, at any cost to
+yourself. You would consecrate your life to one whom yet you do not
+love, because you cannot love. But the sacrifice is too great, dear--a
+sacrifice which no woman should ever make for any cause, which no man
+should ever accept under any circumstances. You must not immolate
+yourself on my unworthy shrine, Cora."
+
+"Oh, Rule! What do you mean? You frighten me! What do you intend to do?"
+exclaimed Cora, with a new fear in her heart.
+
+"I will tell you later, dear, when we are both quieter. And, Cora,
+promise me one thing--for your own sake, dear."
+
+"I will promise you anything you wish, Rule. And be glad to do so. Glad
+to do anything that will please you," she earnestly assured him.
+
+"Then promise that whatever may happen, you will never tell any human
+being what you have told me to-night."
+
+"I promise this on my honor, Rule."
+
+"Promise that you will never repeat one word of this interview between
+us to any living being."
+
+"I promise this, also, on my honor, Rule."
+
+"That is all I ask, and it is exacted for your own sake, dear. The fair
+name of a woman is so white and pure that the smallest speck can be seen
+upon it. And now, dear, it is nearly eleven o'clock. Will you ring for
+your maid and go to your room? I have letters to write--in the
+library--which, I think, will occupy me the whole night," he said, as he
+took her hand and gently raised her to her feet.
+
+At that moment a servant entered, bringing a card.
+
+Mr. Rothsay took it toward the portiere and read it by the light of the
+chandelier in the front room.
+
+"Show the gentleman to the library, and say that I will be with him in a
+few minutes," said Rothsay.
+
+"If you please, sir, the lights are out and the library locked. I did
+not know that it would be wanted again to-night. But I will light up,
+sir."
+
+"Wax candles? It would take too long. Show the gentleman into this front
+room," said the governor-elect.
+
+The servant went to do his bidding.
+
+Then Rothsay turned to Cora, saying:
+
+"I must see this man, dear, late as it is! I will bid you good night
+now. God bless you, dear."
+
+And without even a farewell kiss, Rothsay passed out.
+
+And Cora did not know that he had gone for good.
+
+She rang for her maid and retired to her room, there to pass a
+sleepless, anxious, remorseful night.
+
+What would be the result of her confession to her husband? She dared not
+to conjecture.
+
+He had been gentle, tender, most considerate, and most charitable to her
+weakness, never speaking of his own wrongs, never reproaching her for
+inconstancy.
+
+He had said, in effect, that he would come to an understanding with her
+later, when they both should be stronger.
+
+When would that be? To-morrow?
+
+Scarcely, for the ceremonies of the coming day must occupy every moment
+of his time.
+
+And what, eventually, would he do?
+
+His words, divinely compassionate as they had been, had shadowed forth a
+separation between them. Had he not told her that to be the wife of a
+husband she could not love would be a sacrifice that no woman should
+ever make and no man should ever accept? That she should not so offer up
+her life for him?
+
+What could this mean but a contemplated separation?
+
+So Cora lay sleepless and tortured by these harrassing questions.
+
+When Rule Rothsay entered the front drawing room he found there a young
+merchant marine captain whom he had known for many years, though not
+intimately.
+
+"Ah, how do you do, Ross?" he said.
+
+"How do you do, Governor? I must ask pardon for calling so late, but--"
+
+"Not at all. How can I be of use to you?"
+
+"Why, in no way whatever. Don't suppose that every one who calls to see
+you has an office to seek or an ax to grind. Though, I suppose, most of
+them have," said the visitor, as he seated himself.
+
+Rothsay dropped into a chair, and forced himself to talk to the young
+sailor.
+
+"Just in from a voyage, Ross?"
+
+"No; just going out, Governor."
+
+Rothsay smiled at this premature bestowal of the high official title,
+but did not set the matter right. It was of too little importance.
+
+"I was going to explain, Governor, that I was just passing through the
+city on my way to Norfolk, from which my ship is to sail to-morrow. So I
+had to take the midnight train. But I could not go without trying for a
+chance to see and shake hands with you and congratulate you."
+
+"You are very kind, Ross. I thank you," said Rothsay, somewhat wearily.
+
+"You're not looking well, Governor. I suppose all this 'fuss and
+feathers' is about as harassing as a stormy sea voyage. Well, I will not
+keep you up long. I should have been here earlier, only I went first to
+the hotel to inquire for you, and there I learned that you were here in
+old Rockharrt's house, and had married his granddaughter. Congratulate
+you again, Governor. Not many men have had such a double triumph as you.
+She is a splendidly beautiful woman. I saw her once in Washington City,
+at the President's reception. She was the greatest belle in the place.
+That reminds me that I must not keep you away from her ladyship. This is
+only hail and farewell. Good night. I declare, Rothsay, you look quite
+worn out. Don't see any other visitor to-night, in case there should be
+another fool besides myself come to worry you at this hour. Now
+good-by," said the visitor, rising and offering his hand.
+
+"Good-by, Ross. I wish you a pleasant and prosperous voyage," said
+Rothsay, rising to shake hands with his visitor.
+
+He followed the young sailor to the hall, and seeing nothing of the
+porter, he let the visitor out and locked the door after him.
+
+Then he returned to the drawing room. Holding his head between his hands
+he walked slowly up and down the floor--up and down the floor--up and
+down--many times.
+
+"This is weakness," he muttered, "to be thinking of myself when I should
+think only of her and the long life before her, which might be so joyous
+but for me--but for me! Dear one who, in her tender childhood, pitied
+the orphan boy, and with patient, painstaking earnestness taught him to
+read and write, and gave him the first impulse and inspiration to a
+higher life. And now she would give her life to me. And for all the good
+she has done me all her days, for all the blessings she has brought me,
+shall I blight her happiness? Shall I make her this black return? No,
+no. Better that I should pass forever out of her life--pass forever out
+of sight--forever out of this world--than live to make her suffer. Make
+her suffer? I? Oh, no! Let fame, life, honors, all go down, so that she
+is saved--so that she is made happy."
+
+He paused in his walk and listened. All the house was profoundly
+still--all the household evidently asleep--except her! He felt sure that
+she was sleepless. Oh, that he could go and comfort her! even as a
+mother comforts her child; but he could not.
+
+"I suppose many would say," he murmured to himself, "that I owe my first
+earthly duty to the people who have called me to this high office; that
+private sorrows and private conscience should yield to the public, and
+they would be right. Yet with me it is as if death had stepped in and
+relieved me of official duty to be taken up by my successor just the
+same--"
+
+He stopped and put his hand to his head, murmuring:
+
+"Is this special pleading? I wonder if I am quite sane?"
+
+Then dropping into a chair he covered his face with his hands and wept
+aloud.
+
+Does any one charge him with weakness? Think of the tragedy of a whole
+life compressed in that one crucial hour!
+
+After a little while he grew more composed. The tears had relieved the
+overladen heart. He arose and recommenced his walk, reflecting with more
+calmness on the cruel situation.
+
+"I shall right her wrongs in the only possible way in which it can be
+done, and I shall do no harm to the State. Kennedy will be a better
+governor than I could have been. He is an older, wiser, more experienced
+statesman. I am conscious that I have been over-rated by the people who
+love me. I was elected for my popularity, not for my merit. And now--I
+am not even the man that I was--my life seems torn out of my bosom. Oh,
+Cora, Cora! life of my life! But you shall be happy, dear one! free and
+happy after a little while. Ah! I know your gentle heart. You will weep
+for the fate of him whom you loved--as a brother. Oh! Heaven! but your
+tears will come from a passing cloud that will leave your future life
+all clear and bright--not darkened forever by the slavery of a union
+with one whom you do not--only because you cannot--love."
+
+He walked slowly up and down the floor a few more turns, then glanced at
+the clock on the mantel piece, and said:
+
+"Time passes. I must write my letters."
+
+There was an elegant little writing desk standing in the corner of the
+room and filled with stationery, mostly for the convenience of the
+ladies of the family when the Rockharrts occupied their town house.
+
+He went to this, sat down and opened it, laid paper out, and then with
+his elbow on the desk and his head leaning on the palm of his hand, he
+fell into deep thought.
+
+At length he began to write rapidly. He soon finished and sealed this
+letter. Then he wrote a second and a longer one, sealed that also.
+One--the first written--he put in the secret drawer of the desk; the
+other he dropped into his pocket.
+
+Then he took "a long, last, lingering look" around the room. This was
+the room in which he had first met Cora after long years of separation;
+where he had passed so many happy evenings with her, when his official
+duties as an assemblyman permitted him to do so; this was the room in
+which they had plighted their troth to each other, and to which, only
+six hours before, they had returned--to all appearance--a most happy
+bride and groom. Ah, Heaven!
+
+His wandering gaze fell on the open writing desk, which in his misery he
+had forgotten to close. He went to it and shut down the lid.
+
+Then he passed out of the room, took his hat from the rack in the hall,
+opened the front door, passed out, closed it behind him, and left the
+house forever.
+
+Outside was pandemonium. The illuminations in the windows had died down,
+but the streets were full of revelers, too much exhilarated as yet to
+retire, even if they had any place to retire to; for on that summer
+night many visitors to the inauguration chose to stay out in the open
+air until morning rather than to leave the city and lose the show.
+
+Once again the hum and buzz of many voices was broken by a shrill cry
+of:
+
+"Hooray for Rothsay!" which was taken up by the chorus and echoed and
+re-echoed from one end to the other of the city, and from earth to sky.
+
+Poor Rothsay himself passed out upon the sidewalk, unrecognized in the
+obscurity.
+
+An empty hack was standing at the corner of the square, a few hundred
+feet from the house.
+
+To this he went, and spoke to the man on the box:
+
+"Is this hack engaged?"
+
+"Yes, sah, it is--took by four gents as can't get no lodgings at none of
+the hotels, nor yet boarding houses--no, sah. Dere dey is ober yonder in
+dat dere s'loon cross de street--yes, sah. But it don't keep open, dat
+s'loon don't, longer'n twelve o'clock--no, sah. It's mos' dat now, so
+dey'll soon call for dis hack--yes, sah!"
+
+Rothsay left the talkative hackman and passed on.
+
+A hand touched him on the arm.
+
+He turned and saw old Scythia, clothed in a long, black cloak of some
+thin stuff, with its hood drawn over her head.
+
+Rothsay stared.
+
+"Come, Rule! You have tested woman's love to-day, and found it fail you;
+even as I tested man's faith in the long ago, and found it wrong me!
+Come, Rule! You and I have had enough of falsehood and treachery! Let us
+shake the dust of civilization off our shoes! Come, Rule!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE WIDOWED BRIDE.
+
+
+The amazement and confusion that followed the discovery of the
+mysterious disappearance of Governor-elect Regulas Rothsay, on the
+morning of the day of his intended inauguration, has been already
+described in an earlier chapter of this story.
+
+The most searching inquiries were made in all directions without any
+satisfactory result.
+
+Then advertisements were put in all the principal newspapers in all the
+chief towns and cities throughout the country, offering large rewards
+for any information that should lead to the discovery of the missing man
+or of his fate.
+
+These in time drew forth letters from all points of the compass from
+people anxious to take a chance in this lottery of a reward, and who
+fabricated reports of the lost governor having been seen in this, that,
+or the other place, or of his body having been found here, there or
+elsewhere.
+
+Prompt investigation proved the falsehood of these fraudulent letters in
+every instance.
+
+No one really knew the fate of the missing man. No one but Cora Rothsay
+had even the clew to the cause of his disappearance; and she--from her
+sensitive pride, no less than from her sacred promise not to reveal the
+subject of her communicaton to her husband on that fatal evening of his
+flight or of his death--kept her lips sealed on that subject.
+
+Days, weeks and months passed away without bringing any authentic news
+of the lost ruler.
+
+At length hope was given up. The advertisements were withdrawn from the
+papers.
+
+Still occasionally, at long intervals of time, vague rumors reached his
+friends--a sailor had seen him in the streets of Rio de Janeiro; a fur
+trader had found him in Washington Territory; a miner had met him in
+California--but nothing came of all these reports.
+
+One morning, late in December, there came some news, not of the actual
+fate of the governor, but of the long-lost man who had seen the last of
+him alive.
+
+Despite the bitter pleading of the poor, bereaved bride, who dreaded the
+crowded city and desired to remain in seclusion in the country, old
+Aaron had removed his whole family to their town house for the winter.
+
+They had been settled there only a few days, and were gathered around
+the breakfast table, when a card was brought in to Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+"'Captain Ross!' Who, in the fiend's name, is Captain Ross? And what
+does he want at this early hour of the morning?" demanded the Iron King,
+after he had read the name on the card. Then, as he scrutinized it, he
+saw faintly penciled lines below the name and read:
+
+"The late visitor who called on Governor-elect Rothsay on the evening of
+his disappearance."
+
+"Show the man in the library, Jason," exclaimed old Aaron Rockharrt,
+rising, leaving his untasted breakfast, and striding out of the room.
+
+In the library he found a young skipper, tall, robust, black bearded and
+sun burned.
+
+"Captain Ross?" said the old man, interrogatively.
+
+"The same, at your service, sir--Mr. Rockharrt, I presume?" said the
+visitor with a bow.
+
+"That's my name. Sit down," said the Iron King, pointing to one chair
+for his visitor and taking another for himself.
+
+"So you were the last visitor to Mr. Rothsay, eh?"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Well, can you give any information regarding the disappearance of my
+grandson-in-law?"
+
+"No, sir; but learning that I had been advertised for, I have come
+forward."
+
+"At rather a late date, upon my soul and honor! Where have you been all
+this time?"
+
+"At sea. When I called upon Mr. Rothsay, it was to congratulate him on
+his position and to bid him good-by. I was on the eve of sailing for
+India, and, in fact, left the city by the night's express and sailed the
+next morning. I think we must have been out of sight of land before the
+news of the governor's disappearance was spread abroad."
+
+"What explanation can you give of his sudden disappearance?"
+
+"None whatever, sir."
+
+"Then, in the demon's name, why have you come forward at all at this
+time?"
+
+"Because I was advertised for."
+
+"That was months ago."
+
+"But months ago I was at sea and knew nothing of the matter. I have but
+just returned from a long voyage, and hearing among other matters that
+Governor Rothsay had been missing since the day of his inauguration,
+that Governor Kennedy reigned in his stead, and that the latest visitor
+of the missing man had long been wanting, I have come."
+
+"Do you appreciate the gravity of your own position, sir, under the
+circumstances?" sternly demanded the Iron King.
+
+"I--don't--understand you," said the skipper, in evident perplexity.
+
+"You don't? That is strange. You are the last man--the last person--who
+saw Governor-elect Rothsay alive, at eleven o'clock on the night of his
+disappearance. After that hour he was missing, and you had run away."
+
+The young sailor smiled.
+
+"Steamed away, and sailed away, you should say, sir. I see the suspicion
+to which your words point, and will answer them at once: On that night
+in question I was a guest of the Crockett House. I was absent from that
+house only half an hour--from a quarter to eleven to a quarter after
+eleven--during which time I walked to this house, saw the
+governor-elect, and walked back to the hotel, only to pay my bill, take
+a hack and drive to the railway station. Do you think that in half an
+hour I could have done all that and murdered the governor, and made away
+with his body besides, Mr. Rockharrt?"
+
+"You would have to prove the truth of your words, sir," replied the Iron
+King.
+
+"That is easily done by the people at the hotel. I did not tell them
+where I was going. I never even thought of telling them. But they know
+I was only gone half an hour; for before going out, or just as I was
+going out, I ordered the carriage to be ready to take me to the depot at
+a quarter past eleven."
+
+"They may have forgotten all about you."
+
+"Not at all. I am an old customer, though a young man. They know me very
+well."
+
+"Then it is very strange that when every anxious inquiry was made for
+this latest visitor of the governor-elect, these hotel people did not
+come forward and name you."
+
+"But I repeat, sir, that they did not know that I was that latest
+visitor. I did not think of telling any one that I was going to see
+Rothsay before I went, or of telling them that I had been to see him
+after I went. They had no more reason to identify me with that late
+caller than any other guest at the hotel, or, in fact, any other man in
+the world. Come, Mr. Rockharrt, you have complimented me with one of the
+blackest suspicions that could wrong an honest man, but I will not
+quarrel with you. I know very well that the last person seen with a
+missing man is often suspected of his taking off. As for me, I invite
+the most searching investigation."
+
+"Why did you come here, after so long an interval?" demanded the Iron
+King, in no way mollified by the moderation of his visitor.
+
+"As I explained to you, I come now because I have just heard that I had
+been advertised for; and after this long interval because I have been
+for months at sea. I had, however, another motive for coming--to tell
+you of the strange manner of Regulas Rothsay during my interview with
+him--a manner that does not seem to have been observed by any one else,
+for all speak and write of his health and extraordinarily good spirits
+on the evening of his arrival in the city only a few hours before I saw
+him, when he seemed very far from being in good health or good spirits.
+In fact, a more utterly broken man I never saw in my life."
+
+"Ah! ah! What is this you tell me? Give me particulars! Give me
+particulars!" said the Iron King, rising and standing over his visitor.
+
+"Indeed, I do not think I can give you particulars. The effect he seemed
+to produce was that of a general prostration of body and mind. On coming
+into the room where I waited for him, he looked pale and haggard; he
+tottered rather than walked; he dropped into his chair rather than sat
+down in it; his hands fell upon the arms rather than grasped them; he
+was gloomy, absent-minded, and when he spoke at all, seemed to speak
+with great effort."
+
+"Ah! ah! ah!" exclaimed the Iron King.
+
+"I thought the fatigue and excitement of the day had been too much for
+him. I made my visit very short, and soon bade him good-night. He wished
+me a prosperous voyage, but did not invite me to visit him on my
+return--a kindness that he had never before omitted."
+
+"Ah, ah ah!" again exclaimed old Aaron Rockharrt.
+
+"Then I thought his manner and appearance only the effect of excessive
+fatigue and excitement. Now, seen in the light of future events, I
+attach a more serious meaning to them."
+
+"What! what! what!" demanded the Iron King.
+
+"I think that some fatal news, from some quarter or other, had reached
+him; or that some heavy sorrow had fallen upon him; or, worse than all,
+sudden insanity had overtaken him! That, under the lash of one or
+another, or all of these, he fled the house and the city, and--made away
+with himself."
+
+"Now, Heaven forbid!" exclaimed old Aaron Rockharrt, dropping into his
+chair.
+
+"One favor I have to ask you, Mr. Rockharrt, and that is, that the most
+searching investigation be made of my movements on that fatal evening of
+the governor's disappearance."
+
+"It shall be done," said the Iron King.
+
+"I shall remain at the David Crockett until all the friends of the late
+governor are satisfied so far as I am concerned. And now, having said
+all I have to say, I will bid you good morning," concluded the visitor
+as he arose, took up his hat, bowed, and left the room.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt returned to the breakfast table, where his
+subservient family waited.
+
+The coffee, that had been sent to the kitchen to be kept hot, was
+brought up again, with hot rolls and hot broiled partridges.
+
+The old man resumed his breakfast in silence. He did not think proper to
+speak of his visitor, nor did any member of the family party venture to
+question him.
+
+And this was well, so far as Cora was concerned.
+
+Any allusion to the agonizing subject of her husband's mysterious
+disappearance was more than she could well bear; and to have hinted in
+her presence that some hidden sorrow had driven him to self-destruction
+might almost have wrecked her reason.
+
+Cora now never mentioned his name; yet, as after events proved, he was
+never for a moment absent from her mind.
+
+The old grandmother, who could not speak to Cora on the subject, and who
+dared not speak to her lord and master on any subject that he did not
+first broach, and yet who felt that she must talk to some one of that
+which oppressed her bosom so heavily, at length confided to her youngest
+son.
+
+"I do think Cora's heart is breaking in this suspense, Clarence! If Rule
+had died there would have been an end of it, and she would have known
+the worst and submitted to the inevitable! But this awful suspense,
+anxiety, uncertainty as to his fate, is just killing her! I wish we
+could do something to save her, Clarence!"
+
+"I wish so, too, mother! I see how she is failing and sinking, and I own
+that this surprises me! I really thought that Cora was fascinated by
+that fellow in London." (This was the irreverent manner in which Mr.
+Clarence spoke of his grace the Duke of Cumbervale.) "And I thought that
+she only married Rothsay from a sense of duty, keeping her word, and all
+that sort of thing! I can't understand her grieving herself to death for
+him now!"
+
+"Oh, Clarence! she was fascinated by the rank and splendor and personal
+attractions of the young duke! Her fancy, vanity, ambition and
+imagination were fired; but her heart was never touched! She had not
+seen Rothsay for so long a time that his image had somewhat faded in her
+memory when this splendid young fellow crossed her path and dazzled her
+for a time! It was a brief madness--nothing more! But you can see for
+yourself how really she loved Rothsay when you see that anxiety for his
+fate is breaking her heart."
+
+"I see, mother dear; but I don't understand! And I don't know what on
+earth we can do for her! If my father does not think proper to suggest
+something, we must not, for if we should do so it would make matters
+much worse."
+
+"Yes," sighed the old lady; and the subject was dropped.
+
+Clarence had said that he did not understand Cora's state of mind. No;
+nor did old Mrs. Rockharrt. How could they, when Cora had not understood
+herself, until suffering brought self-knowledge?
+
+From her childhood up she had loved Rule Rothsay as a sister loves a
+favorite brother. In her girlhood, knowing no stronger love, on the
+strength of this she accepted the offered hand of Rothsay, and was
+engaged to be married to him. She meant to have been faithful to him;
+but it was a long engagement, during which she traveled with her
+grandparents for three years, while the memory of her calmly loved
+betrothed husband grew rather dim. Then came her meeting with the
+handsome and accomplished young Duke of Cumbervale, and the infatuation,
+the hallucination that enslaved her imagination for a period. Then began
+the mental conflict between inclination and duty, ending in her
+resolution to forget her English lover and to be true to Rule.
+
+Up to the very wedding day she had suppressed and controlled her
+feelings with heroic firmness, but on the evening of that day, while
+waiting for her husband, the long, severe tension of her nerves utterly
+gave way, and when found in a paroxysm of tears and questioned by him,
+in her wretchedness and misery she had confessed the infidelity of her
+heart and pleaded for time to conquer it.
+
+She had expected bitter reproaches, but there were none. She had dreaded
+fierce anger, but there was none. She had anticipated obduracy, but
+there was none. There was nothing but intense suffering, divine
+compassion, and infinite renunciation. He pitied her. He soothed her. He
+defended her from the reproaches of her own conscience. He protected her
+by an imposed provision that for her own sake she should not tell others
+what she had told him. And then--
+
+He laid down all the honors that his life-long toil and self-denial had
+won for her sake, and he went out from his triumphs, went out from her
+life--out, out into the outer darkness of oblivion, to be seen no more
+of men, to be heard of no more by men. All for her sake. And before the
+majesty of such infinite love, such infinite renunciation, her whole
+soul bowed down in adoration. Yes, at last, in the hour of losing him
+she loved him as he longed to be loved by her. She had but one desire on
+earth--to be at his side. But one prayer, and that was her "vital
+breath"--for his return.
+
+She felt herself to be unworthy of the measureless love that he had
+given her--that he still gave her, if he still lived, for his love had
+known no shadow of turning, nor ever would suffer change.
+
+But, oh! where in space was he? How could she reach him? How could she
+make him hear the cry of her heart?
+
+One message, like a voice from the grave, had, indeed, come to her from
+him since his disappearance, but it had been sent before he left the
+house; it was in the letter he had written and placed in the secret
+drawer of her writing desk before he went forth that fatal night, a
+"wanderer through the world's wilderness."
+
+She had found it on that day, about three weeks after his loss, when she
+had come into the parlor for the first time since her illness, and when,
+left alone for a few minutes by her grandmother, she had gone to her
+writing desk, and in the idleness of misery had begun carelessly,
+aimlessly, to turn over her papers. In the same mood she pressed the
+spring of the secret drawer, and it sprang open and projected the letter
+before her. She recognized his handwriting, seized the paper and opened
+it. It contained only a few words of farewell, with a prayer for her
+happiness and a parting blessing.
+
+There was no allusion made to the cause of their separation. Probably
+Rule had thought of the letter falling into other hands than hers; so he
+had refrained from referring to her secret, lest she should suffer
+reproach from her family.
+
+Cora read this letter with deep emotion over and over again, until she
+found herself staring at the lines without gathering their meaning, and
+then she felt herself growing giddy and faint, for she was still very
+weak from recent illness, and she hastily dropped the letter into the
+desk and shut down the lid, only just before a film came over her eyes,
+a muffled sound in her ears, and oblivion over her senses. This is the
+swoon in which she was found by Mrs. Rockharrt, and for which she could
+give no satisfactory reason.
+
+When Cora recovered from that swoon her first care, on the first
+opportunity, was to go to her writing desk to look for her precious
+letter--Rothsay's last letter to her. No one had opened her desk or
+disturbed its contents.
+
+She found her letter; pressed it to her heart and lips many times; then
+made a little silken bag, into which she put it; then tied it around her
+neck with a narrow ribbon.
+
+And from that day it rested on her heart. It was her priceless treasure
+to be cherished above all others, "the first to be saved in fire or
+flood." It was the only relic of her lost love with his last good-by,
+and prayers and blessings. It was her magic talisman, still connecting
+her in some occult way with the vanished one. It was her anchor of hope,
+still promising in some mysterious manner the final return of her lost
+husband.
+
+While Cora mourned and dreamed away these first days of the family's
+return to their town house, old Aaron Rockharrt was sifting the evidence
+of the story told by Captain Ross; he proved the truth of the skipper's
+account; and he failed to connect the young man's late visit on that
+fatal night with the almost simultaneous disappearance of Rothsay.
+
+The season passed on. Mr. and Mrs. Rockharrt gave dinner parties and
+supper parties; and received and accepted invitations to similar
+entertainments in return; but no persuasions nor arguments could prevail
+on Cora to go into any society. Not even the iron will of the Iron King
+could conquer in this matter. His granddaughter was his own personal
+property, and one of the attractions of his house; it was in her place
+to wear her best clothes and costliest jewels, and to show herself to
+his guests; and her persistent refusal to do this put him in a gloomy,
+teeth-grinding, impotent rage.
+
+"Cora is of age! She has a very sufficient provision. And now if she
+does not return to her duty and render herself amenable to my authority
+and obedient to my commands, I shall order her to find another home; for
+I mean to be master of my own house and of everybody in it!" he said,
+savagely, to his timid wife, one evening when she was doing valet's duty
+by dressing his hair for a dinner party.
+
+"Oh, Aaron! Aaron! have pity on the poor, heartbroken girl!" pleaded the
+old lady, falling into a fit of trembling that interfered with her task.
+
+"Hold your tongue and heed my words, for I shall do as I say. And mind
+what you are about now! You have scratched my ear with the bristles of
+the brush."
+
+"I beg your pardon, Aaron, but my hand shakes so."
+
+"If that young woman don't submit herself to my will, and obey my
+orders, I will pack her out of this house. And then, perhaps, your
+nerves will be quieter! I'll do it, for I am not particularly fond of
+having grass widows about me," he growled.
+
+She made no reply. She could not trust herself to speak. It required all
+her self-control to steady her hands so as to complete her master's
+toilet.
+
+Then she had to dress herself in haste and agitation to be ready in
+time to accompany her husband to the dinner party at the executive
+mansion, which was now occupied by Lieutenant-Governor Kenelm
+Kennedy--and from which the Iron King would not allow his wife to absent
+herself.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt was the lion of the evening, as he was the lion of
+every party in the State capital, probably because he owned the lion's
+share of the State's wealth, and had more money, perhaps, than the
+State's treasury. He enjoyed this beast worship, and came to his town
+house every season and went into general society to receive it.
+
+Mrs. Rockharrt was very anxious to have a talk with her granddaughter,
+to warn her of impending danger and to implore her to obey the wishes of
+her grandfather, but the poor old lady had no opportunity.
+
+Cora sat up for her grandparents, in case they should need any of her
+services on their return.
+
+They came in very late, and then the exactions of the domestic tyrant
+kept his wife in attendance on him until they were all in bed.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+NEWS OF THE MISSING MAN.
+
+
+The next morning, while Aaron Rockharrt slept the sleep of the
+dead-in-selfishness, his wife arose and crept into the bedroom of her
+granddaughter.
+
+Cora was awake, but not yet up.
+
+"Oh, grandma, you will get your death of cold! walking about the house
+in your night gown. What is it? What do you want? Can I do anything for
+you?" cried the girl, springing out of bed to turn on the heat of the
+register, and then wrapping a large shawl around the old lady, and
+putting her into the cushioned easy chair.
+
+"Now what is it, dear grandma? What can I do for you?" she inquired, as
+she drew on her own wadded dressing gown and sat on the side of the bed
+near the old lady.
+
+"You can do something to set my mind at ease, my dear; but it will be
+painful for you, and I do not know whether you will do it," said the old
+lady with timid hesitation.
+
+"I can do this, dear? Then, of course, I will do it," replied the girl.
+
+"It is almost too much to ask of you, my child."
+
+"There is nothing, nothing that I would not do to give you peace--you,
+poor dear, who have so little peace," said Cora, tenderly, smoothing the
+silver hair away from the wrinkled brow of the old lady, who began to
+drop a few weak tears of self-pity, excited by Cora's sympathy.
+
+"Well, my child," she said, "your grandfather is going to have a little
+talk with you soon--on the subject of your self-seclusion. Oh! my poor
+child, do not resist him, do not provoke, do not disobey him. Oh! for my
+sake, Cora, for my sake, do not!"
+
+"Dearest dear, I will leave undone anything in the world you wish me not
+to do. I will no longer rebel against my grandfather's authority, even
+when he exercises it in such a despotic manner," said Cora, raising the
+clasped hands of the old lady and pressing them to her lips.
+
+Mrs. Rockharrt gathered the girl in her arms and kissed her, with a few
+more weak tears, but with no more words.
+
+She did not tell Cora of the cruel threat made by the tyrant to turn
+her out of doors if she failed to obey him, and she hoped that the girl
+might never hear of it, lest in her wounded pride she might forestall
+the threat and leave the house of her own accord.
+
+"Now be at ease, dear," said Cora, soothingly. "No more trouble--"
+
+A bell rang sharply and cut off the girl's speech.
+
+"Oh, there he is awake! I must go to him," exclaimed the timid old
+creature.
+
+Cora made her toilet, and then went down to the breakfast parlor, where
+she found the two old people about to sit down to the table. She bade
+her grandfather good morning and then took her place.
+
+During breakfast Aaron Rockharrt said:
+
+"Mrs. Rothsay, you will come to me in the library as soon as we leave
+the table. I have something to say to you that must be said at once and
+for the last time."
+
+"Very well, sir," replied the girl.
+
+Half an hour later she was closeted with her grandfather.
+
+"Madam, I do not intend to waste much time over you this morning. I
+merely mean to put a test question, whose answer shall decide my future
+course in regard to you."
+
+"Very well."
+
+"I must preface my question by reminding you that you have constantly
+disregarded my wishes and disobeyed my orders by refusing to see my
+guests or to go out in company with me."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"When honored with an invitation to the state dinner at the executive
+mansion you declined to go, even though I expressed my will that you
+should accompany me."
+
+"Yes."
+
+"But for the future I intend to be master of my own house and of every
+living soul within it. Now, then, for my test question. You have
+received cards to the ball to be given at the house of the chief justice
+to-morrow evening. I wish you to attend it, and my wish should be a
+command."
+
+"Of course."
+
+"What is your answer? Think before you speak, for on your answer must
+depend your future position in my house."
+
+Cora was silent for a few moments.
+
+"Sir," she began at length, "you are a just man, at least, and you will
+not refuse to hear and consider my reasons for seclusion."
+
+"I will consider nothing! I know them as well as you do. Morbid
+sensitiveness about your peculiar position; morbid dread of facing the
+world; morbid love of indulging in melancholy. And I will have none of
+it! None of it! I will be obeyed, and you shall go out into society, or
+else--"
+
+"'Or else' what will be the alternative, sir?"
+
+"You leave my house! I will have no rebel in my family!"
+
+Had Cora followed the impulse of her proud and outraged spirit, she
+would have walked out of the library, gone to her room, put on her
+bonnet and cloak, and left the house, leaving all her goods to be sent
+after her; but the girl thought of her poor, gentle, suffering
+grandmother, and bore the insult.
+
+"Sir," she said, with patient dignity, "do you think that it would have
+been decorous, under the peculiar circumstances, for me to appear in
+public, and especially at a state dinner at the executive mansion?"
+
+"Madam, I instructed you to accept that invitation and to attend that
+dinner! Do you dare to hint that I would counsel you to any indecorous
+act?"
+
+"No, sir; certainly not, if you had stopped to think of it; but
+weightier matters occupied your mind, no doubt."
+
+"Let that go. But in the question of this ball? Do you mean to obey me?"
+
+"Grandfather, please consider! How can I mix with gay scenes while the
+fate of my husband is still an awful mystery?"
+
+"You must conquer your feelings, and go, or--take the consequences!"
+
+"Even if I could forget the tragedy of my wedding day, and mix with the
+gay world again, what would people say?"
+
+"What would people say, indeed? What would they dare to say of my
+granddaughter?"
+
+"But, sir, it would be contrary to all the laws of etiquette and
+conventionality."
+
+"My granddaughter, madam, should give the law to fashion and society,
+not receive it from them!" said the Iron King, throwing himself back in
+his arm chair as if it had been his throne.
+
+Cora smiled faintly at this egotism, but made no reply in words.
+
+"To come to the point!" he suddenly exclaimed--"Will you obey me and
+attend this ball, or will you take the other alternative?"
+
+Cora's heart swelled; her eyes flashed; she longed to defy the despot,
+but she thought of her meek, patient, long-suffering grandmother, and
+answered coldly:
+
+"I will go to the ball, sir, since you wish it."
+
+"Very well. That will do. Now leave the room. I wish to read the morning
+papers."
+
+Cora went out to find her grandmother and to relieve the lady's
+anxiety; old Aaron Rockharrt threw himself back in his arm chair with
+grim satisfaction at having conquered Cora and set his iron heel upon
+her neck. Yes; he had conquered Cora through her love for her poor,
+timid, abused grandmother. But now Fate was to conquer him.
+
+But Fate had decided that Cora should not attend that ball, or any other
+place of amusement, for a long time. And he was just on the brink of
+discovering the impertinent interference of Fate in human affairs, and
+especially those of the Iron King.
+
+He took up a Washington paper--a government organ--and read, opening his
+eyes to their widest extent as he read the following head-lines:
+
+    A MYSTERY CLEARED UP.
+
+    _THE FATE OF GOVERNOR REGULAS ROTHSAY_.
+
+    Killed by the Comanches on November 1st.
+
+    A dispatch from Fort Security to the Indian Bureau, received this
+    morning, announces another inroad of the Comanches upon the new
+    settlement of Terrepeur, in which the inhabitants were massacred
+    and their dwellings burned. Among the victims who perished in the
+    flames in their own huts was Regulas Rothsay, late Governor-elect
+    of ----, and at the time of his death a volunteer missionary to
+    this treacherous and bloodthirsty tribe.
+
+Another man, under the circumstances, might have been unnerved by such
+sudden and awful news, and let fall the paper, but not the Iron King.
+He grasped it only with a firmer hand, and read it again with keener
+eyes.
+
+"What under the heavens took that man out there? Had he gone suddenly
+mad? That seems to be the only possible explanation of his conduct. To
+abandon his bride on the day of his marriage--to abandon his high
+official position as governor of this State on the day of his
+inauguration, and without giving any living creature a hint of his
+intention, to fly off at a tangent and go to the Indian country and
+become a missionary to those red devils, and be massacred for his
+pains--it was the work of a raving maniac. But what drove him mad?
+Surely it was not his high elevation that turned his head, for if it had
+been, his madness would never have taken this particular direction of
+flying from his honors. No! it is as I have always suspected. He heard,
+in some way, of the girl's English lover, and he, with his besotted
+devotion to her, was just the man to be morbidly, madly jealous, and to
+do some such idiotic thing as he has done, and get himself murdered and
+burned to ashes for his pains! Yes; and it serves him right!--it serves
+him--right!"
+
+He sat glowering at the paragraph, and growling over his news for some
+time longer, but at length he took it up and walked over to the back
+parlor, where he felt sure he should find his two women.
+
+Mrs. Rockharrt and Cora, who sat at a table before the gloomy coal fire,
+and were engaged in some fancy needlework, looked up uneasily as he
+entered; not that they expected bad news, but that they feared bad
+temper.
+
+"Cora," he began, "I shall not insist on your going to the ball
+to-morrow."
+
+She looked up in surprise, and a grateful exclamation was on her lips,
+but he forestalled it by saying:
+
+"I suppose the news is all over the city by this time. I am going out
+to hear what the people are saying about it, and to see if the
+government house and the public offices are to be hung in mourning.
+There--there it is told in the first column of this paper."
+
+And with cruel abruptness he laid the newspaper on the table between the
+two women, and pointed out the fatal paragraph.
+
+Then he stalked out of the room, and called his man-servant to help him
+on with his heavy overcoat.
+
+That house, on the previous night, had been one blaze of light in honor
+of the State dinner. Now, as well as he could see dimly through the
+falling snow, it was all closed up, and men on ladders were festooning
+every row of windows with black goods.
+
+"Yes, of course. It is as I expected. The news has gone all over the
+town already," said old Aaron Rockharrt, as he strode through the
+snowstorm to the business center of the city.
+
+Every acquaintance whom he met stopped him with the same question in
+slightly different words.
+
+"Have you heard?" and so forth.
+
+Every intimate friend he encountered asked:
+
+"How does Mrs. Rothsay bear it?" or--
+
+"What on earth ever took the governor out there?"
+
+To all questions the Iron King gave curt answers that discouraged
+discussion of the subject. He walked on, noticing that the stores and
+offices of the city were being festooned with mourning, and that
+notwithstanding the severity of the storm the street corners were
+occupied by groups talking excitedly of the fatal news.
+
+He went into the editorial rooms of all the city newspapers and wished
+and attempted to dictate to the proprietors the manner in which they
+should write of the tragic event which was then in the minds and on the
+tongues of all persons.
+
+As he spent an hour on the average at each office, it was late in the
+winter afternoon when he got home. It was not yet dark, however, and he
+was surprised to see a man servant engaged in closing the shutters.
+
+He entered and demanded severely why the servant shut the windows before
+night.
+
+The old man looked nervous and distressed, and answered vaguely:
+
+"It is the missus, sah."
+
+The idea that his wife should take the liberty of ordering the house to
+be closed for the night at this unusual hour of the afternoon, without
+his authority, enraged him:
+
+"Help me off with my ulster," he said.
+
+When the servant had performed this office the master said:
+
+"Serve dinner at once."
+
+And then he strode into the back parlor, which was the usual sitting
+room of his wife and granddaughter. The room was empty and darkened.
+More than ever infuriated by fatigue, hunger, and the supposed disregard
+of his authority, he came out and walked up stairs to look for his wife
+in her own room. He pushed open the door and entered. That room was also
+dark, only for the faint red light that came from the coal fire in the
+grate. By this he dimly perceived a female form sitting near the bed,
+and whom he supposed to be his wife.
+
+"Why, in the fiend's name, is the whole house as dark as pitch?" he
+roughly demanded, as he went to a front window and threw open the
+shutters, letting in the white light of the snow storm.
+
+"Grandfather!"
+
+It was the voice of Cora that spoke, and there was a something in its
+tone that struck and almost awed even the Iron King.
+
+He turned abruptly.
+
+Cora had risen from her chair and was now standing by the bed. But on
+the bed lay a little, still, fair form, with hands folded over its
+breast, with the eyes shut down forever, and all over the fair, wan,
+placid face was "the peace of God which passeth all understanding."
+
+"What is this?" demanded Old Aaron Rockharrt, as he came up to the bed.
+
+"Look at her. She rests at last. I have been with her twenty years, and
+this is the first time I have ever seen her rest in peace."
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt stood like a stone beside the bed, gazing down on
+the dead.
+
+"She is safe now, never more to be startled, or frightened, or tortured
+by any one. 'Safe, where the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary
+are at rest,'" continued Cora.
+
+Still Old Aaron stood like a stone beside the bed and gazed down on the
+dead.
+
+Suddenly, without moving or withdrawing his gaze from where it rested,
+he asked in a low, gruff tone:
+
+"How did this happen?"
+
+"She fainted in her chair, and died in that faint."
+
+"When? where? from what?"
+
+"Within an hour after you had left us together in the back parlor, with
+the paper containing the news of my husband's death," answered Cora,
+speaking in a tone of most unnatural calmness.
+
+"Had that excitement anything to do with her swoon?"
+
+"I do not know."
+
+"Give me the particulars."
+
+"We--or, rather, she--first took up the paper, and without knowing what
+the news was that you told us to look at, gave it to me, and asked me to
+read it. I, as soon as I saw what it was--I lost all control over
+myself. I do not know how I behaved. But she took the paper, to see what
+it was that had so disturbed me, and then, she, too, became very much
+agitated; but she tried to console me, tried for a long while to comfort
+me, standing over my chair, and caressing and talking. At last she left
+me, and sat down and leaned back in her own chair. I was trying to be
+quiet, and at last succeeded, and then I arose and went to her, meaning
+to tell her that I would be calm and not distress her any more. When I
+looked at her, I found that she had fainted. I rang and sent off for a
+doctor instantly, and while waiting for him did all that was possible to
+revive her, but without effect. When the doctor came and examined her
+condition he pronounced her quite dead."
+
+"This must have occurred four or five hours ago. Why was I not sent
+for?"
+
+"You were sent for immediately. Messengers were dispatched in every
+direction. But you could nowhere be found. They did not, indeed, know
+where to look for you."
+
+"Now close the window again, and then go and leave me alone; and do not
+let any one disturb me on any account," said the old man, who had not
+once moved from the bedside, or even lifted his gaze from the face of
+the dead.
+
+"I have telegraphed to North End for Uncle Fabian and Clarence, also to
+West Point for Sylvanus. Sylvan cannot reach here before to-morrow, but
+my uncles will be here this evening. Shall I send you word when they
+arrive?"
+
+"No. Let no one come to me to-night."
+
+"Shall I send you up anything, grandfather?"
+
+"No, no. If I require anything I will ring for it. Go now, Cora, and
+leave me to myself."
+
+The girl went away, closing the door behind her. As she descended the
+stairs she heard the key turned, and knew that her grandfather had so
+shut out all intruders.
+
+He who had come home hungry and furious as a famished wolf never
+appeared at the dinner that he had so peremptorily ordered to be served
+at once, but shut himself up fasting with his dead. If his eyes were now
+opened to see how much he had made her suffer through his selfishness,
+cruelty, and despotism all her married life--if his late remorse
+awoke--if he grieved for her--no one ever knew it. He never gave
+expression to it.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+"THE PEACE OF GOD WHICH PASSETH ALL UNDERSTANDING."
+
+
+In the late dawn of that dark winter day Mr. Clarence came down into the
+parlor, and found Cora still there, with one gas jet burning low.
+
+"Up so early, my dear child?" he said, as he took her hand and gave her
+the good morning kiss.
+
+"I have not been in bed," she replied.
+
+"Not in bed all night! That was wrong. How cold your hands are? Go to
+bed now, dear."
+
+"I cannot. I do not wish to."
+
+"My poor, doubly bereaved child, how much I feel for you!" he said, in a
+tender tone, and still holding her hand.
+
+"Do not mind me, Uncle Clarence. I do not feel for myself. I am numb. I
+feel nothing--nothing," she replied.
+
+Mr. Clarence, still holding her hand, led her to a large easy chair, and
+put her in it.
+
+Then he went and rang the bell.
+
+"Tell the cook to make a strong cup of coffee as quickly as she can, and
+bring it up here to Mrs. Rothsay," he said to the man who answered the
+call.
+
+The latter touched his forehead and left the room.
+
+Mr. Clarence had tact enough not to worry his niece with any more words.
+He went and opened one of the front windows to look out upon the wintry
+morning. The ground was covered very deeply with the snow, which was now
+falling so thickly as to obscure every object.
+
+When the servant entered with the coffee, Mr. Clarence himself took it
+from the man's hand, and carried it to his niece and persuaded her to
+drink it.
+
+The servant meanwhile, mindful of the proprieties, when he saw the front
+window open, went and closed it, and then passed down the room and
+opened both the back windows, which gave sufficient light to the whole
+area of the apartment.
+
+Finally he turned off the gas, and taking up the empty coffee service,
+left the room.
+
+Presently after Mr. Fabian came in, and greeted his niece and his
+brother in a grave, muffled voice.
+
+A little later breakfast was served.
+
+"Some one should go up to see if grandpa will have anything sent to him.
+Will you, Uncle Fabian?" inquired Cora, as they seated themselves at the
+table.
+
+Mr. Fabian left his chair for the purpose, but before he had crossed the
+room they heard the heavy footsteps of the Iron King coming down the
+stairs.
+
+He entered the dining room, and all arose to receive him. He came up
+and shook hands with each of his sons in turn and in silence. Then he
+took his place at the table. The three younger members of the family
+looked at him furtively, whenever they could do so without attracting
+his attention, and, perhaps, awakening his wrath.
+
+Some change had come over him, but not of a softening nature. His hard,
+stern, set face was, if possible, more stony than ever.
+
+Neither Mr. Clarence nor Cora dared to speak to him; but Mr. Fabian,
+feeling the silence awkward and oppressive, at length ventured to say:
+
+"My dear father, in this our severe bereavement--"
+
+But he got no further in his speech. Old Aaron Rockharrt raised his hand
+and stopped him right there, and then said:
+
+"Not one word from any one of you to me or in my presence on this event,
+either now or ever. It happened in the course of nature. Drop the
+subject. Fabian, how are matters going on at the works?"
+
+"I do not know, sir," replied Mr. Fabian, speaking for the first and
+last and only time, abruptly and indiscreetly to his despotic father.
+
+But the Iron King took no notice of the words, nor did he repeat the
+question. He drank one cup of coffee, ate half a roll, and then arose
+and left the table, without a word. He did not return to his dead wife's
+chamber, which he probably knew would now have to be given up to
+dressers of the dead and to the undertakers.
+
+He went and locked himself in the library, and was seen no more that
+day.
+
+Cora, with her woman's intuition, understood the accession of hardness
+that was worn as a mask to conceal grief and remorse.
+
+"Be patient with him, Uncle Fabian. He is your father, after all. And
+he suffers! Oh, he suffers! Yes; much more than any of us do," she said.
+
+"Do you think so, Cora?" inquired Mr. Fabian, looking at her in
+surprise.
+
+"I know he does," she answered.
+
+"Well, he has good reason to!" concluded Mr. Fabian. Then, after a
+pause, he added: "But I am sorry I spoke roughly to my father! I will
+make it up to him, or try to do so, by extra deference."
+
+Then they all arose from the table.
+
+Mr. Fabian and Mr. Clarence to attend to the business of the mournful
+occasion, which Old Aaron Rockharrt, in his proud, reserved, absorbed
+sorrow, seemed to have ignored or forgotten.
+
+Cora stepped away to her grandmother's room, to have a quiet hour beside
+the beloved dead before the undertaker should come in and take
+possession.
+
+"It is only her body that is dead, I know. But the hands had caressed me
+and the lips kissed me; and, right or wrong, I love that body as well as
+the heavenly soul that lived within it! The flesh cleaves to the flesh.
+And so long as we are in the flesh we will, we must, haunt the shrines
+that contain the bodies of those we love," she thought, as reverently
+she entered the chamber of death, closed the door, and went up to the
+bed whereon lay the tenantless temple in which so lately lived the most
+loving, the most patient spirit she had ever known!
+
+But what is this! Into what strange sphere of ineffable peace has Cora
+entered? She could not understand the change that came over her. She had
+a gentle impulse to close her eyes to all visible matters and yield
+herself up to the sweetness of this sphere. Her dear one was living, was
+young again, was happy, was sleeping, watched by angels, who would
+presently awaken her to the eternal life.
+
+Cora knelt down by the bed and lifted up her heart to the Lord of life
+in silent, wordless, thoughtless, profoundly quiet aspiration. She did
+not wish to move or speak, or form a sentence even in her mind. She
+found her state a strange one, but she did not even wonder at it, so
+deep was the calm that enveloped her spirit.
+
+Not long had she knelt there in this rapt serenity, when she was
+conscious that some one was rapping softly at the door. This did not
+disturb her. She arose from her knees, still in deep peace, went to the
+door, and said:
+
+"Presently. I will open presently. Wait a moment."
+
+Then she went back to the bed, turned down the sheet, and gazed upon the
+beloved face. How placid it was, and how beautiful. Death had smoothed
+every trace of age and care from that little fair old face. She lay as
+if sleeping, and almost smiling in her sleep--
+
+    "As though by fitness she had won
+    The secret of some happy dream."
+
+Cora stooped and kissed the placid brow, then covered the face, and went
+to open the door.
+
+The gray-haired old Jason was waiting outside.
+
+"If you please, ma'am, it is the--"
+
+"I know, I know," said Cora, quietly. "Show them in."
+
+And she passed out and went to her own room.
+
+Her front windows were closed; but through the slats of the shutters she
+saw that it was still snowing fast.
+
+"What a winding sheet this will make for her grave," she thought, as she
+looked out upon the wintry scene.
+
+There was no wind, the fine white snow fell softly and steadily, giving
+only the dimmest view of the government house on the opposite side of
+the square draped in mourning.
+
+The funeral of Mrs. Rockharrt took place on the third day after her
+death. The snow had ceased, and the winter sun was shining brightly from
+a clear blue sky on a white world, whose trees wore pendent diamonds
+instead of green leaves, and as every house in the city was hung in
+black for the dead governor, the effect of all this glare and glitter
+and gloom was very weird and strange, as the funeral cortege passed from
+the Rockharrt home to the Church of the Lord's Peace.
+
+After the rites were over, the family returned to their city home, but
+only for the night; for preparation had been already completed for their
+removal to Rockhold, there to pass the year of mourning.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt never changed from his look of stony immobility. If
+he mourned for his patient wife of more than half a century, no outward
+sign betrayed his feelings. If his spirit suffered with suppressed
+grief, his strong frame bore up under it without the slightest
+weakening.
+
+On the afternoon of his return from his wife's funeral he shut himself
+up in his library and remained there all the evening, refusing to come
+to dinner, calling for a bottle of wine and a sandwich and desiring
+afterward to be left alone.
+
+Later in the evening he sent for Mr. Fabian to come to him, and there
+opened to his eldest son and partner, in whose business talents he had
+great confidence, a scheme of speculation so venturous, so gigantic that
+the younger man was shocked and staggered, and began to lose faith in
+the sound intellect of the Iron King.
+
+"This will make us twice told the wealthiest men in the United States,
+if not in the whole world," concluded Old Aaron Rockharrt.
+
+"If it should succeed," said Mr. Fabian, dubiously.
+
+"It shall succeed; I say it. We shall go down to Rockhold to-morrow
+morning and the next day to the works, and there I shall give my whole
+mind to this matter and make it succeed, do you hear? Make it succeed!
+And place my name at the head of the list of wealthy men of this age."
+
+Mr. Fabian did not dare to raise any objection.
+
+"I am pleased, sir," he said, "that you find in this new enterprise an
+object of so much interest to engage your mind. Employ me in any way you
+think fit. I am quite at your service, as it is my bounden duty to be."
+
+"Very well; that is as it should be. Now I am going to bed. Good night,"
+said the Iron King, abruptly dismissing his son, then rising and ringing
+for his valet, whose office, since the patient old lady's death, was now
+no longer a sinecure.
+
+It seems passing strange that a man of seventy-six years, who had just
+lost his life-long and beloved companion--for in his own selfish way he
+loved her after a sort, and perhaps more than he loved any human being
+in the world--and who must expect before many years to follow her,
+should be so full of this world's avarice and ambition; so eager to make
+more, and more, and more money, and to stand at the head of the list of
+all the wealthiest men in the land. Strange, yet the name of such a one
+is legion. But in the case of Old Aaron Rockharrt there might have been
+this additional motive--the necessity to seek refuge from the pains of
+grief and remorse in the anxieties and activities of speculation. So he
+was very eager to get back as soon as possible to business and to enter
+at once upon the enterprise he had planned.
+
+Cora was also anxious to leave the city, which she knew was in a fresh
+ferment of gossip and conjecture on the subject of her lost husband, the
+deceased governor-elect. The news from the Indian Territory had renewed
+all the public interest in the mystery of his disappearance.
+
+For some months before this news arrived, the community had settled down
+to the conviction that the missing governor had been murdered and his
+body made away with, although, as there was no proof to establish the
+fact of their theory, there was no thought of inaugurating the
+lieutenant-governor as chief magistrate of the State.
+
+Yet, now, when the startling news came that the missing statesman had
+been killed by the Comanches in the wilds of the Indian Reservation, far
+from any agency, and that he had been living and preaching there as a
+volunteer missionary for many months before the massacre, the mystery of
+his sudden and unexplained disappearance from the State capital on the
+day of his inauguration was not cleared up and made intelligible, but
+darkened and rendered more inscrutable.
+
+It was easy enough to understand why a missing man might have been lured
+away from his dwelling by some false letter or plausible message, and
+murdered in some secret place where his body lay buried in earth or
+water, for such crimes were not unfrequent.
+
+But that a bridegroom should secretly depart on the evening of his
+wedding day, that a governor should take flight on the evening before
+his inauguration, was a course of action only to be explained on the
+ground of insanity; and yet Regulas Rothsay was always considered one of
+the most level-headed and mentally well balanced among the rising young
+statesmen of the country.
+
+Conjecture had once been wild as to the cause of his disappearance--had
+he been murdered, or kidnapped, or both? Those were the questions then.
+
+Conjecture was now rampant as to the cause of his sudden flight and self
+expatriation to the Indian Territory. Had he suddenly gone mad? Or
+committed a capital crime which was on the eve of discovery? These were
+the questions now.
+
+Every newspaper was full of the problem, which none but one could solve,
+and she was bound to secrecy.
+
+But it gave her inexpressible pain to know that his motives and his
+character were being discussed and censured for that course of conduct
+for which only herself was to be blamed, and which only she could
+explain. A word from her would show him in a very different light before
+his critics. But she must not speak that word to save his reputation.
+
+So Cora was anxious to leave the city.
+
+The next morning the whole family set out on their return journey to
+Rockhold, where they arrived early in the afternoon. They found
+everything in good order, for Cora had taken the precaution to write to
+the housekeeper, and warn her of the return of the family.
+
+The grief of the servants for the loss of their kind and gentle old
+mistress broke out afresh at the sight of the young lady. And it was
+long before the latter could soothe and quiet them.
+
+Fortunately Mr. Rockharrt had gone at once to his room, and so he
+escaped annoyance from their loud lamentations, and they escaped stern
+rebuke for their want of self-control.
+
+The two young Rockharrts had left the family party at North End, to
+inspect the condition of the works, and were to remain there overnight.
+Old Aaron Rockharrt, Sylvanus Haught, and Cora Rothsay were, therefore,
+the only ones who sat down at the once full dinner table.
+
+The meal passed in almost utter silence, for neither Sylvan nor Cora
+ventured to address one word to the hard old man who, whenever they had
+spoken to him since his loss of his wife, had replied in short, harsh
+words, or not replied at all. The brother and sister, therefore, only
+spoke in suppressed tones, at intervals, to each other.
+
+After dinner the old man bade them an abrupt good night, and left the
+room to retire to his own chamber. Cora felt sorry for him, despite all
+his harshness. She stepped after him and asked:
+
+"Grandfather, can I be of any service to you at all? Help you at your--"
+
+He stopped her by turning and bending his gray brows over the fierce
+black eyes which fixed her motionless. He stared at her for an instant
+and then said:
+
+"No. Certainly not," and turned and went up stairs.
+
+Cora walked slowly back into the drawing room, at the open door of which
+stood Sylvan, who had heard all that passed.
+
+"You had better let the old man alone, Cora. Or you'll have your head
+bitten off. I don't want to break the fifth commandment by saying
+anything irreverent of our grandfather, but indeed, indeed, indeed it is
+as much as one's life, or at least as one's temper, is worth to speak to
+him," said the young man.
+
+"I never reverenced my grandfather as much as I do now, Sylvan," gravely
+replied the young lady.
+
+"That is all right! Reverence him as much as you please; but don't go
+too near the old lion in his present mood. Come and sit down on the sofa
+by me, sister, and let us have a pleasant talk--"
+
+"Pleasant talk! Oh, Sylvan!"
+
+"Well, then, Cora, dear sister, a cozy, confidential talk. Do you know
+we have not had one for years and years and years?"
+
+They sat down side by side holding each other's hands in silence for a
+little while, when Cora said:
+
+"Do you think you will graduate next year, Sylvan?"
+
+"Yes, Cora, certainly."
+
+"And then you will come home for a long visit."
+
+"For a short one, on leave."
+
+"And afterward, Sylvan?"
+
+"Well, afterward I shall be ordered out to 'The Devil's Icy Peak.'"
+
+"What!"
+
+"That was Aunt Cassy's name for all remote parts, you know. 'Devil's Icy
+Peak,' which in my destination means some remote frontier fort, among
+hostile Indians, border ruffians, grizzly bears, buffaloes,
+rattlesnakes, mosquitoes, malaria, and other wild beasts. There is where
+they send all the new-fledged military officers from West Point, and
+there they may spend the best part of their lives," said Sylvan.
+
+"Unless they have influence with the higher authorities. If they have
+such influence, they may be sent to choice posts near the great cities,
+in reach of all the best society, best libraries, and all the luxuries
+and advantages of the highest civilization."
+
+"Yes, I know; but--" said the young cadet, hesitatingly.
+
+"You, or rather our grandfather, has influence enough to have you
+ordered to Washington, New York, Portsmouth--any place."
+
+"Yes, I know; but--"
+
+"But what, Sylvan?"
+
+"Cora, our grandfather's influence is that of wealth--great wealth--and
+it is a mighty power in this world at this age; but, you see, Aaron
+Rockharrt would not use it in such a way. He would not consider it
+honest to do so. Nor would I have it either. No; since the government
+has given me a free military education, I think it my duty to go exactly
+wherever they may order me, without attempting to evade orders through
+the influence of friends or money."
+
+"You are entirely right, dear brother. And I tell you this: Though I
+must and will remain with my grandfather so long as he shall need me--so
+long as he shall live--yet, when he departs, if you should be stationed
+at one of those border posts, I will go out and join you, Sylvan," said
+Cora Rothsay, taking both his hands and pressing them warmly.
+
+"No, dear sister; you shall not make such a sacrifice for me," he
+answered.
+
+"But after my aged grandfather, whose days on earth cannot be long, whom
+have I in this world to live for but you, Sylvan?"
+
+"Other interests in life, I hope, will arise, sister, to give you
+happiness," he replied.
+
+Cora shook her head, and as the waiter now entered the parlor with the
+bedroom candles, she lighted one, bade her brother good night, and
+retired.
+
+The next morning, as but one day of his leave of absence remained, the
+young cadet bade good-by to his friends, and left Rockhold for West
+Point, where he arrived the next morning just in time to report for
+duty, and save his honor.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt went up to North End, where his sons awaited him;
+there to inspect the works, and commence proceedings toward that vast
+enterprise which the Iron King had planned out while in the city.
+
+And from this day forth. "Rockharrt & Sons" devoted all their energies
+to this mammoth speculation, while, as the months passed, it grew into
+huge and huger proportions, and great and greater success.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt's spirits rose with the splendor of his fortune.
+
+He was nearly seventy-seven years of age, yet he said to himself, in
+effect: "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years."
+
+Cora, meanwhile, living a secluded and almost solitary life at Rockhold,
+occupied herself with a labor of love, in writing the life of her late
+husband, with extracts from his letters, speeches, and newspaper
+articles. In doing this her soul seemed once more joined to his.
+
+In this manner the year of mourning passed, and the month of January was
+at hand.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+TURMOIL OF THE WORLD.
+
+
+The Rockharrts were again in the State capital. It was but thirteen
+months since the death of his wife and since the news of the murder of
+his grandson-in law had been received--calamities which had doubly
+bereaved the family, and thrown them in the deepest mourning--yet the
+Iron King, elated by his marvelous financial success, had thrown open
+his house to society, and insisted that his granddaughter should do its
+honors.
+
+Cora, who, since the death of the grandmother, had deeply pitied the
+grandfather, yielded to his wishes in this respect, though much against
+her secret inclination. She did not leave off her widow's mourning, but
+she modified it when she presided at the head of the Rockharrt table on
+those frequent occasions of the sumptuous and unrivaled dinners given by
+the Iron King to those whose fortunes he was making, with his own, by
+his mammoth enterprise.
+
+The old man was certainly the lion of the season. He had steadily gone
+on from step to step on the ladder of fame (for enormous wealth), until
+now he was quoted as not only the richest man of his State, but as one
+of the ten richest men in the world.
+
+It was at this time that Mr. Fabian bethought himself of taking a wife.
+It was indeed quite time that he should marry, if he ever intended to do
+so. He was nearly fifty-two years of age, though looking no more than
+forty; his erect and active figure, his fresh and smooth complexion, his
+curling brown hair and beard, his smiling countenance and cheerful
+demeanor, rendered him quite an attractive man to young ladies, who
+credited him with fully twenty years less than his due.
+
+There was, at this time, among the lovely "rosebuds" opening in the
+fashionable drawing rooms of the city, a sweet "wood violet," otherwise
+Violet Wood; a perfect blonde, with perfect features and a petite
+figure. Her beauty was peculiar; she was very small, very dainty; her
+hair the palest yellow, her face so white that almost the only color on
+her features were her deep blue eyes and crimson lips.
+
+She was an orphan heiress, without any near relation in the world.
+Though but eighteen years of age, and just from school, she had already
+entered on the possession of her fortune by the terms of her father's
+will. She lived with her former guardians, the Chief Justice Pendletime
+and his wife.
+
+They had given a grand ball to introduce their ward into society. The
+Rockharrts had been invited, of course. And they had all been present.
+The Wood Violet, as admirers transposed her name, was equally, of
+course, the belle of the evening.
+
+The tall, towering sunflower, Mr. Fabian, fell instantly and
+irrecoverably in love with this tiny white wood violet. Many others fell
+in love with her, but none to the depth of Mr. Fabian. He resolved to
+"take time by the forelock," "not to let the grass grow under his feet"
+in this love chase.
+
+The very next morning he said to his father:
+
+"You have lately expressed a wish to see me married, sir. I have been,
+in obedience to your commands, looking out for a wife. I think I have
+found a woman to suit me, and, what is more to the purpose, to suit you,
+sir. However, if I should be mistaken in your taste, I shall, of course,
+give up the thought of proposing to her," added artful Mr. Fabian, who
+felt perfectly sure that his father would approve his choice.
+
+"Who is she?" demanded the Iron King.
+
+"Miss Violet Wood, the ward of Chief Justice Pendletime."
+
+"You could not have made a wiser choice. You have my full approval. And
+the sooner you are married, the better I shall like it."
+
+Mr. Fabian bowed in silence.
+
+"And you remember that we were planning to send a confidential agent to
+Europe to establish syndicates for our shares in the principal cities.
+Now you can utilize your wedding tour by taking your bride to Europe and
+looking after this business in person."
+
+"Yes, of course," assented Mr. Fabian.
+
+"Other details may be thought of afterward. You had better begin to call
+on the lady. It is well to be the first in the market."
+
+"Of course, sir."
+
+This ended the conference.
+
+Mr. Fabian groomed himself into as charming a toilet as a gentleman's
+morning suit would admit. He then set forth in his carriage and made the
+round of the three conservatories of which the town could boast before
+he could find a cluster of white wood violets to pin on the lapel of his
+coat. He also got a splendid and fragrant bouquet, and armed with these
+fascinators he drove to the house of the chief justice and sent in his
+card.
+
+The ladies were at home. He was shown into the drawing room, where, oh!
+beneficence of fortune, he found his inamorata alone.
+
+In a pale blue cashmere home dress trimmed with swan's down and lace,
+she looked fairer, sweeter, daintier, more suggestive of a wood violet
+than ever.
+
+She left her seat at the piano and came to meet him, saying simply:
+
+"Good morning, Mr. Rockharrt. Mrs. Pendletime will be down presently.
+She is not in good health, and so she slept late this morning after the
+ball. Oh! what lovely, lovely flowers! For me? Oh! thank you so much,
+Mr. Rockharrt," she added, as Mr. Fabian, with a deep bow and a sweet
+smile, presented his offering.
+
+Mr. Fabian made good use of his time, and had advanced considerably in
+the good graces of his fair little love before the lady of the house
+entered.
+
+Mrs. Chief Justice Pendletime greeted Mr. Fabian most graciously,
+inquiring after the health of his father.
+
+A little small talk, a few compliments, and the delightful chat was
+broken into by the arrival of other callers, fine youths, admirers of
+Violet Wood and secret aspirants to her favor. Even most amiable Mr.
+Fabian felt a strong desire to kick them all out of the drawing room,
+through the front door and into the street.
+
+He made himself doubly agreeable to the beauty and her chaperon, and
+finally offered them a box at the opera for the next evening, and when
+it was accepted he at last took leave.
+
+"I have got the inside track and mean to keep it!" he said to himself,
+as he drove homeward. And he did keep it. He was really a very
+fascinating man when he chose to be so, and he generally did choose to
+be so. And he could "make love like an angel." Now, whether he really
+won the affections of Violet Wood by his charms of person and address,
+or whether he only dazzled the girl's imagination by the splendor of his
+wealth and position, or whether her guardians advocated his cause with
+the beauty, or whether there was something of all these influences at
+work upon her will, I do not quite know. But certain it is that when Mr.
+Fabian, after two weeks' courtship, offered his heart, hand, and fortune
+to the little beauty, she accepted them, and not only accepted, but
+seemed very happy in doing so.
+
+The betrothed lover pleaded for an early wedding day. Violet Wood
+answered that she would consult her chaperon and abide by her decision.
+Mr. Fabian then took the precaution to see Mrs. Pendletime, and pray
+that the marriage might take place early in February. The lady answered
+that she would consult her young protegee and be governed by her wishes.
+
+Mr. Fabian bowed, thanked her warmly, shook hands with her cordially and
+left the house. He went straight home, took from his safe a casket of
+diamonds he had bought for his bride, and saying to himself:
+
+"I can get Violet another and twice as costly a set; and what I need now
+is to save time." He called Jason and dispatched him with this casket
+and his card done up in a neat parcel, and directed to Mrs. Chief
+Justice Pendletime. So prompt had been his action that the chaperon
+received this silent bribe before she had spoken to her protegee on the
+subject of fixing a day for her marriage.
+
+Now the fire of these diamonds threw such a radiant light on the matter
+that Mrs. Pendletime saw at once, and quite clearly, that February,
+early in February, was the very best time for the wedding.
+
+She sent for her protegee, and had a talk with her. Now Violet Wood was
+by nature a simple-hearted, good-humored girl, who loved to be well
+dressed, well housed, well served, and, above all, to be much petted,
+especially by such a charming master of the art as was Mr. Fabian. She
+also loved to oblige her friends.
+
+So she yielded to the arguments of Mrs. Pendletime and consented to be
+married in February--only not during the first week in February, but
+about the middle of the month--the fourteenth, say. Saint Valentine's
+day, the birds' bridal day, would be a very appropriate time for a wood
+violet to wed.
+
+When Mr. Fabian came to pay his usual visit the next morning, Mrs.
+Pendletime received him, thanked him profusely for his munificent gift,
+telling him at the same time that she should certainly never have
+accepted such a costly present from any one who was not connected or
+about to be connected with her family. Mr. Fabian bowed deprecatingly
+and asked if he might be permitted to see Miss Wood. Surely he might,
+she had only intercepted him to thank him for his gift. Then she told
+him that he would find Violet alone in the drawing room. He went in, and
+found the little creature perched upon the music stool, before the open
+piano, trying a new piece of music. She lighted down like a little bird
+from a twig and came to meet him. He greeted his betrothed with more
+warmth of love than a younger man might have ventured upon--but, then,
+Mr. Fabian was no freshman in the college of love. And Violet, though
+she did not like to be squeezed so tight and kissed so much, thought it
+was all right, since he was her first lover and her betrothed husband.
+She was not sufficiently in love with him to be afraid of him. This was
+as if one of her school girl friends had hugged and kissed her so much.
+When they were seated side by side on the sofa, Mr. Fabian told her that
+immediately after their wedding breakfast they should take the train for
+New York and thence sail for Liverpool. They should reach London near
+the beginning of the fashionable season, which is not winter, as with
+us, but spring.
+
+Violet listened in the rapture of anticipation.
+
+"And at the end of the London season we will make a leisurely tour
+through England--see the monuments of its great old history; palaces and
+castles of kings and chieftains who have been dust for ages. Then the
+homes and haunts of the great poets and painters."
+
+The door opened, and the servant announced a visitor. Mr. Fabian, secure
+now of his prize, arose and said good morning, leaving Violet to
+entertain one of her young adorers. Mr. Fabian went home and sought his
+father in the library, where the old man now passed much of his time.
+
+"Well, my dear sir, it is all settled. With your approbation, we--Miss
+Violet Wood and myself--will be married on the fourteenth proximo, and
+leave for Europe immediately afterward," said Mr. Fabian, seating
+himself.
+
+"That is right. I am glad that you will sail in February. You will
+thereby escape the winds of March and the tempests of the spring
+equinox," said the Iron King, sententiously.
+
+"I am very glad you approve," said Mr. Fabian.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt nodded in silence.
+
+Fabian looked at him; saw that the old man looked grave, depressed, yet
+stern and strong as adamant. He felt very sorry for his father. His own
+present happiness rendered good-natured Mr. Fabian very compassionate
+toward the lonely old widower. He had something, inspired by this
+compassion, to suggest to the old man, yet he feared to do so
+straightforwardly.
+
+"Father," he said at length, for he didn't mind lying the least in the
+world--"Father, I heard a strange report about you this morning."
+
+"Indeed! What was it? That I had failed in business, or quadrupled my
+fortune?" inquired the egotist, who was always interested when the
+question concerned himself.
+
+"Neither, sir. I heard you were going to be married."
+
+"Fabian!" sternly exclaimed the Iron King, darkly gathering his brows.
+
+"Yes, sir," said the benevolent Mr. Fabian, who, now that the ice was
+broken, could go on lying glibly with the best intentions and without
+the slightest scruple; "yes, sir; you know such rumors must necessarily
+get afloat about such a fine-looking, marriageable man as yourself."
+
+"Ah! and since the community have made so free, pray what lady's name
+have they honored me by associating with mine?" inquired the Iron King
+somewhat sarcastically, yet not ill-pleased to learn that he was still
+to be considered a great prize in the matrimonial market.
+
+"Why, of course there could be but one lady in the question; and
+equally, of course, you will be able to place her," said Mr. Fabian,
+smiling.
+
+"Upon my soul, I am not."
+
+"Well, then, the lady to whom you are reported to be engaged is the
+beautiful Mrs. Bloomingfield."
+
+"Who?"
+
+"The beautiful and accomplished Mrs. Bloomingfield, with whom you sat
+and talked during the whole evening of the governor's State dinner
+party."
+
+"Oh, the widow of General Bloomingfield, who died three years ago. Yes,
+I remember her--a very fine creature, most certainly--but I never
+dreamed of her in the light of a wife. In fact, I never dreamed of
+marrying again," said the Iron King, speaking with unusual gentleness.
+
+Mr. Fabian laughed in his sleeve. He thought of the soft place in the
+hard head of the Iron King, a weak part in the strong character of old
+Aaron Rockharrt--personal vanity.
+
+"With all possible respect and submission, my dear father, I would
+suggest that if you never thought of marrying again, you should do so
+now."
+
+"Fabian, I am seventy-seven years old."
+
+"In years, yes; but that is nothing to you. You are not half that age in
+health, strength, vigor, and activity of mind and body. What man of
+forty do you know who has anything approaching your energy?"
+
+"None that I know of, indeed, Fabian," said the Iron King, softening
+into complacency.
+
+"No, none," assented Mr. Fabian. "Men die of old age at almost any time
+in their lives--at forty, fifty, sixty, seventy--but you in your
+strength of manhood are likely to reach your hundredth year and to be a
+hale old man then. Now, and for many years to come, you will not be old
+at all."
+
+"Yes; I think I have twenty-five or thirty years longer to live."
+
+"And will you live those years in loneliness? Cora will be sure to
+marry. A young woman like Cora will not wear the willow long, believe
+me. And when Cora leaves you, what then will you do? You have no other
+daughter or granddaughter. As for my promised wife, you yourself made it
+a condition of our marriage that we should have an establishment of our
+own."
+
+"For the dignity of the house of Rockharrt. Yes, Fabian."
+
+"And when Cora shall have left you, you will be alone--you who require
+the gentle ministrations of woman more than any man I ever knew."
+
+"Fabian!" exclaimed old Aaron Rockharrt, suddenly and suspiciously,
+bringing his strong black eyes to bear pointedly upon the face of his
+son. "What is your motive in wishing me to marry?"
+
+"Heaven bear me witness, sir, that my motive, my only motive, is your
+own comfort and happiness," said Fabian, and this time he spoke the
+truth.
+
+"I believe you, Fabian. But this lady with whom the world associates my
+name is too young for me. She cannot be more than twenty-five," said Old
+Aaron Rockharrt reflectively.
+
+"Well, sir! What did the sages and prophets recommend to David? A young
+woman to comfort the king. I am not very well posted in Bible history,
+but I think that is the story," said Mr. Fabian.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+ANOTHER FINE WEDDING.
+
+
+The marriage of Mr. Fabian Rockharrt and Miss Violet Wood was to be the
+great event of the winter.
+
+When the approaching wedding was announced in the newspapers of the day,
+it caused a sensation, I assure you. Mr. Fabian Rockharrt, the eldest
+son of the renowned millionaire, the confirmed bachelor, for whom "caps"
+had been "set" for the last twenty-five years; who had flirted with
+maidens who were now wives of elderly men and mothers of grown-up
+daughters, and in some cases even grandmothers of growing boys and
+girls--Mr. Fabian Rockharrt to be won at last by a little wood violet!
+Preposterous!
+
+The fourteenth of February, Saint Valentine's Day, the Birds' Wedding
+Day, dawned in that Southern climate like a May day. The snow had
+vanished weeks before; the ground was warm and moist; the grass was
+springing; the trees were budding; the wood violets were opening their
+sweet eyes in sheltered nooks of the forest.
+
+I do not know in what mood Violet Wood arose on that momentous morning
+of her life--probably in a very pleasant one. Her chaperon confided to
+an intimate friend that the child was not in love; that she had never
+been in love in her life, and did not even know what being in love
+meant; but that she was rather fond of the fine fellow who adored her,
+flattered her, petted her, promised her everything she wanted, and whose
+enormous wealth constituted him a sort of magician who could command the
+riches, the splendors, the luxuries, and all the delights of life! She
+was full of rapturous anticipations of extravagant enjoyments.
+
+Mr. Fabian Rockharrt, utterly unprincipled as he was, yet had the grace
+to recognize the purity of the young being whom he was about to make his
+wife. He was very kind hearted and good humored with every one; he
+really loved this girl, as he had never loved any one in all his life;
+and it was his pleasure to indulge her in every wish and whim--even to
+suggest and create in her mind more wishes and more whims, such as she
+never could have imagined, so that he might have the joy of gratifying
+them.
+
+Before starting to church that morning his father called him into the
+library for a private interview, and lectured him as if he had been a
+lad of twenty-one, who was about to contract marriage--lectured him on
+the duties of a husband, of the master of a household and the head of a
+family.
+
+The arrival of Mr. Clarence from North End, and of Mr. Sylvan from West
+Point by the same train, to be present at the wedding, interrupted the
+bridegroom's reflections.
+
+"It is now nine o'clock, boys. You have just time to get your breakfast
+comfortably and dress yourselves properly before we leave for the
+church. So look sharp," was the greeting of Mr. Fabian, as he shook
+hands with his brother and his nephew.
+
+At ten o'clock the carriage containing Mr. Rockharrt, Mrs. Rothsay and
+Cadet Haught left the house for the church, which they entered by the
+central front door, from which they were marshaled up the center aisle
+to their seats in the right hand front pew.
+
+At a quarter past ten the bridegroom, with his best man, Clarence
+Rockharrt, followed in another very handsome carriage.
+
+They drove around to the side of the church, and passed in through the
+rector's door to the vestry on the left of the chancel, where they
+awaited the arrival of the bride's party, and through the open door of
+which they looked in upon the splendidly decorated and crowded church.
+An affluence of rare exotic flowers everywhere. The green-houses of the
+State capital and of three neighboring cities had been laid under
+contribution by Mr. Fabian, and had yielded up their sweetest treasures
+for this occasion. Floral arches spanned the center aisle from side to
+side, all the way up from the door to the chancel; festoons of flowers
+were looped from the galleries on three sides of the church; wreaths of
+flowers were wound around the pillars from floor to ceiling; the railing
+around the chancel was covered with flowers; the pulpit and reading desk
+were hidden under flowers. The pews were filled with the beauty,
+fashion, and aristocracy of the capital, and a splendid crowd they
+formed. Every lady held a rich bouquet; every gentleman wore a rare
+boutonniere.
+
+Mr. Fabian looked at his watch from moment to moment. We have scarcely
+ever seen a more impatient bridegroom than Mr. Fabian Rockharrt. But,
+then, childish disorders go hard with elderly folks. Just as the clock
+struck eleven, with dramatic punctuality, the gentlemanly
+white-satin-badged ushers threw open the double doors, and the bride's
+procession entered. She wore a trained dress of rich white satin, with
+an overskirt, berthe and veil, all of duchess lace, looped, fastened and
+festooned here and there and everywhere with orange buds; and a
+magnificent set of diamonds, consisting of a coronet, necklace,
+ear-drops, brooch, and bracelets--too much for the little
+creature--lighting her up like fireworks as she passed under the blaze
+of the sunlit windows. She carried in her white-gloved hand a bouquet of
+white wood violets, with her monogram in purple violets in the center.
+She was leaning on the arm of her guardian, the chief justice, followed
+by eight bridesmaids.
+
+The bishop, with two other clergymen, in their white vestments, entered
+and took their places at the altar. The choir struck up Mendelssohn's
+wedding march. The bride's procession came slowly up under all the
+floral arches of the center aisle to the floral hedge around the
+chancel.
+
+The bridegroom came gayly out of the vestry room to meet her, smiling,
+radiant, tripping as if he had been a slim young lover of twenty,
+instead of a tall and heavy giant of fifty odd. He took her hand, lifted
+it to his lips, and led her to the altar, where both knelt. The
+bridesmaids grouped behind them. The best man stood on the groom's
+right. Old Aaron Rockharrt, Mrs. Rothsay and Cadet Haught came out of
+their pew and formed a group behind the bridegroom.
+
+Mrs. Chief Justice Pendletime, and a few intimate friends, came out of
+her pew and grouped behind the bride and her maids.
+
+The rest of the congregation remained in their pews, but stood up, and
+those in the rear raised on tiptoes and craned their necks to witness
+the proceedings. As soon as the bridegroom and the bride had knelt under
+the floral arch, from the high center of which hung a wedding bell of
+white wood violets, the bishop and his assistants stepped down from the
+high altar steps, and opened their books.
+
+The rites commenced, and went on without any unusual disturbance of
+their course until they came to the question:
+
+"Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?"
+
+Her guardian, the chief justice, a portly, ponderous person, was moving
+solemnly forward to perform this duty, when--
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt--not from officiousness, but out of pure simple
+egotism--took the bride's hand and placed it in that of the groom,
+saying:
+
+"I do."
+
+You may judge the effect of this. The bride was mildly amazed; the
+bridegroom was deeply annoyed; the chief justice, the rightful owner of
+the thunder, was highly offended, and withdrew back in solemn dignity.
+Meanwhile the ceremony went on to its end. The benediction was
+pronounced, and congratulations were in order.
+
+The marriage feast was a great success, like most other affairs of the
+kind. The chief justice had not got over the affront given him at the
+church, but he could not show resentment in his own house, and on the
+occasion of his young ward's wedding breakfast. As for Old Aaron
+Rockharrt, he had not the faintest idea that he had committed any breach
+of propriety. The deuce, you say! Was it not his own eldest son's
+wedding? Had he not a right to give away the bride? He never even asked
+himself the question. He took it for granted as a matter of course.
+Besides, was not he the greatest man present? And should not he do just
+as he thought fit? So in utter ignorance of any offense given to any
+one, the Iron King unbent his stiffness for once, and was very genial to
+every one, especially to the chief justice, who, secretly offended as he
+was, could not but respond to this friendliness.
+
+Among the wedding guests around the board was the beautiful widow, Mrs.
+Bloomingfield. Mrs. Pendletime had requested Mr. Rockharrt to take her
+to the table, and he had offered her his arm, placing her at the board,
+and seated himself beside her. The Iron King looked at the lady with
+more interest than he would have felt had not Mr. Fabian invented a
+rumor to the effect that he, Aaron Rockharrt, was addressing her.
+
+He looked at the lady on his left critically. Yes; she was very
+beautiful--very beautiful indeed! And, of course, she would accept him
+at once if he should offer her his hand! Very beautiful! A tall, finely
+rounded, radiant blonde, with a suit of warm auburn hair, which she wore
+in a mass of puffs and coils high on her head; a brilliant, blooming
+complexion, damask rose cheeks, redder lips, blue eyes, and a pure,
+fine Roman profile--that means, among the rest, a hooked nose--a very
+elegant and aristocratic nose indeed, but still a hooked nose. She
+carried her head high, and her well turned chin a little forward, her
+lip a little curled. All that meant a high spirit, intolerance of
+authority, and danger, much danger, to a would-be despot. Oh! very
+handsome, and very willing to marry the old millionaire. But--no! the
+Iron King thought not! She would give him too much trouble in the
+process of subjugation. He would none of her.
+
+Cadet Haught, watching this pair from the opposite side of the table,
+whispered to his sister, who sat on his right:
+
+"As I live by bread, Cora, there is the aged monarch flirting with the
+handsome widow! A thing unparalleled in human history. Or is it dreaming
+I am?"
+
+Cora lifted her languid dark eyes, looked across the table and answered:
+
+"She is trying to flirt with him, I rather fancy."
+
+"Wasted ammunition, eh, Cora?"
+
+"I do not know," replied the young lady.
+
+And then the increasing talk and laughter all around the table rendered
+any tete-a-tete difficult or impossible. And now began the toast
+drinking and the speech making. It need not be told how Mr. Rockharrt
+toasted the bride, how the chief justice responded in behalf of his late
+ward, how Mr. Fabian toasted the bridesmaids, how Mr. Clarence responded
+on the part of the young ladies, how with this and that and the other
+observance of forms, the breakfast came to an end and the bishop gave
+thanks.
+
+The bride retired to change her dress for a traveling suit of navy blue
+poplin, with hat and feather to match, and a cashmere wrap. Then came
+the leave-taking, and the jubilant bridegroom handed his bride into the
+elegant carriage, while his best man, Clarence, gave the last order.
+
+"To the railway station."
+
+This was the final farewell, for Mr. Fabian had asked as a particular
+favor that no one of the wedding party should attend them to the depot.
+Their luggage had been sent on hours before, in charge of the maid and
+the valet. Half an hour's drive brought them to the station in time to
+catch the 3:30 train East.
+
+"At last, at last I have you away from all those people and all to
+myself!" exulted Fabian, as he seated his wife in the corner of the car,
+and turned the opposite seat that they might have no near fellow
+passenger. For as yet palace cars were not.
+
+The maid and valet were seated on the opposite side of the car.
+
+The train started.
+
+The speed was swift, yet seemed slow. It was the way train they were on,
+and it stopped at every little station. They could not have got an
+express before midnight, and that would have been perilous to their
+chance of catching the steamer on which their passage to Europe was
+engaged.
+
+The journey was made without events until about sunset, when the train
+reached the little mountain station of Edenheights, where it stopped
+twenty minutes for refreshments.
+
+"What a lovely scene!" said the bride, looking down from the window on
+her left, into the depths of a small valley lighted up by the last rays
+of the setting sun streaming through the opening between two wooded
+hills.
+
+"Yes, dear, lovely, if I can think anything lovely besides yourself," he
+replied.
+
+"Look, what a sweet cottage that is almost hidden among the trees. An
+elegant cottage of white freestone built after the Grecian order. How
+strange, Fabian, to find such a bijou here in this wild, remote
+section."
+
+"Probably the residence of some well-to-do official connected with our
+works," said Mr. Fabian, carelessly; then--"Will you come out to the
+refreshment rooms and have some tea? See, they are on the opposite side
+of the train."
+
+Violet turned and looked on a very different scene. No wooded and
+secluded valley with its one lovely cottage, but a row of open saloons
+and restaurants, crowded and noisy.
+
+"No; I think I will not go in there. It is not pretty. You may send me a
+cup of tea. I will sit here and enjoy this beautiful valley scene. And
+oh, Fabian! Look there, coming up the hillside, what a beautiful woman!"
+
+Mr. Fabian looked out and saw and recognized Rose Stillwater and saw
+that she had recognized him. She was coming directly toward the train.
+
+"Sit here, my love; I will go and bring you some refreshments. Don't
+attempt to get out, dearest; to do so might be dangerous. I will not be
+long," he said, hastily, and rising, he hurried after the other
+passengers out of the car.
+
+But instead of going into the railway restaurant he went back to the
+rear of the train, placed himself where he stood out of sight of his
+wife and of all his fellow passengers, yet in full view of the
+approaching woman.
+
+"What devil brings that serpent here?" he muttered to himself. "I must
+intercept her. She must not go on board the train. She must not approach
+my little wood violet. Good heavens, no!"
+
+But the woman turned aside voluntarily from her course to the stationary
+train and walked directly toward himself.
+
+"Well, Rose," he said, in as pleasant a voice as his perturbation of
+mind would permit him to use.
+
+"Well, Fabian," she answered.
+
+She was as white and hard as marble; her lips when she ceased to speak
+were closed tightly, her blue eyes blazed from her hard, white face.
+
+"What brings you here?" he inquired.
+
+"What brings me here, indeed! To see you. Only this morning I heard of
+your intended business. Only this morning, after the morning train had
+left. If there had been another train within an hour or two, I should
+have taken it and gone to the city and should have been in time to stop
+the wicked wedding."
+
+"What a blessing that there was not! You could not have stopped the
+marriage. You would only have exposed yourself and made a row."
+
+"Then I should have done that."
+
+"I don't think so. It would not have been like you. You are too cool,
+too politic to ruin yourself. Come, Rose," looking at his watch, "there
+are but just sixteen minutes before the train starts. I have just
+fifteen to give you, because it will take me one minute to reach my
+seat. Therefore, whatever you have to say, my dear, had better be said
+at once."
+
+"I have not come here to reproach you, Fabian Rockharrt," she said,
+fixing him with her eyes.
+
+"That is kind of you at all events."
+
+"No; we reproach a man for carelessness, for thoughtlessness, for
+forgetfulness; but for baseness, villainy, treachery like yours it is
+not reproach, it is--"
+
+"Magnanimity or murder! I suppose so. Let it be magnanimity, Rose. I
+have never done you anything but good since I first met your face, now
+twenty years ago. You were but sixteen then. You are thirty-six now,
+and, by Jove! handsomer than ever."
+
+"Thank you; I quite well know that I am. My looking glass, that never
+flatters, tells me so."
+
+"Then why, in the name of common sense, can you not be happy? Look you,
+Rose, you have no cause to complain of me. When even in your childhood,
+you--"
+
+"How dare you throw that up to me!" she exclaimed.
+
+He went on as if he had not heard her.
+
+"Were utterly lost and ruined through the villainy of your first
+lover--what did I do? I took you up, got a place for you in my father's
+house as the governess of my niece."
+
+"Well, I worked for my living there, did I not? I gave a fair day's work
+for a fair day's wages, as your stony old father would say."
+
+"Certainly, you did. But you would not have had an opportunity of doing
+so in any honest way if it had not been for me."
+
+"How dare you hit me in the teeth with that!"
+
+"Only in self-defense, my Rose."
+
+"It was with an ulterior, a selfish, a wicked end in view. You know it."
+
+"I know, and Heaven knows that I served you from pure benevolence and
+from no other motive. Gracious goodness! why, I was over head and ears
+in love with another woman at that time. But you, Rose, you made a dead
+set at me. You did not care for me the least in life, but you cared for
+wealth and position, and you were bound to have them if you could."
+
+"Coward!" she hissed, "to talk to me in this way."
+
+"I am not finding fault with you the least in the world. You acted
+naturally on the principles of self-interest and self-preservation. You
+wanted me to marry you, but I could not do that under the circumstances.
+By Jove! though, I did more for you than I ever did for any other living
+woman and with less reward--with no reward at all, in fact. When your
+time was up at Rockhold I settled an income on you, and afterward, in
+addition to that, I gave you that beautiful cottage, elegantly furnished
+from basement to roof. And what did I ever get in return for all that?
+Flatteries and fair words--nothing more. You were as cold as a stone,
+Rose."
+
+"I would not give my love upon any promise of marriage, but only for
+marriage itself."
+
+"And that you know I could not offer you, and you also knew why I could
+not."
+
+"Poltroon! to reproach me with the great calamity of my childhood."
+
+"I repeat that I do not reproach you at all. I am only stating the
+facts, for which I do not blame you in the least, though they prevented
+the possibility of my ever thinking of marriage with you. I gave you a
+house furnished, land, and an income to insure you the comforts,
+luxuries, and elegances of life. I did not bargain with you beforehand.
+I thought surely you would, as you led me to believe that you would,
+give me love in return for all these. But no. As soon as you were secure
+in your possessions you turned upon me and said that I should not even
+visit you at your house without marriage. Now, what have you to complain
+of?"
+
+"This! that you have broken faith with me!"
+
+"In what way, pray you?"
+
+"You swore that, if you did not marry me, no more would you ever marry
+any woman."
+
+"If you would love me. Not if you would not. Besides, I had not seen my
+sweet wood violet then," he added, aggravatingly.
+
+She turned upon him, her eyes flashing blue fire.
+
+"I will be revenged!" she said.
+
+"Be anything you like, my dear, only do not be melodramatic. It's bad
+form. Come, now, Rose, you have your house and your income. You are
+still young, and much handsomer than ever. Be happy, my dear. And now I
+really must leave you and run to the train."
+
+"Go. I will not detain you. I came here only to tell you that I will be
+revenged. I have told you that and have no more to say."
+
+She turned and went down the hill toward the cottage in the dell.
+
+Mr. Fabian hurried to the train and sprang on board just as it began to
+move.
+
+"Fabian! Oh, Fabian!" cried the alarmed bride, "you were almost knocked
+under the wheels!"
+
+"All right, my dear little love. I am safe now," he laughed.
+
+"Where is my tea?"
+
+"Oh, my dear child," exclaimed the conscience-stricken man. "I am so
+very sorry! But the tea was detestable--perfectly detestable! I could
+not bring you such stuff. I am so very sorry, Violet, my precious."
+
+"Well, never mind. Bring me a glass of ice water from the cooler."
+
+He obeyed her, and when she had drank, took back the tumbler.
+
+A porter came along and lighted the lamps in the cars, for it was now
+fast growing dark.
+
+The train sped on.
+
+Our travelers reached Baltimore late at night, changed cars at midnight
+for New York, and reached that city the next morning in time to secure
+the passage they had engaged.
+
+At noon they sailed in the Arctic for Liverpool.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+THE WILES OF THE SIREN.
+
+
+When the bridal pair had started on their journey the wedding guests
+dispersed.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt and his family returned to their town house.
+
+The next morning Mr. Clarence went back to North End to look after the
+works. Cadet Haught left for West Point.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt and Mrs. Rothsay were alone in their city home.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt continued to give dinners and suppers to noted
+politicians until the end of the session and the adjournment of the
+legislature.
+
+The family returned to Rockhold in May. Here they lived a very
+monotonous life, whose dullness and gloom pressed very heavily upon the
+young widow.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt and Mr. Clarence rode out every day to the works and
+returned late in the afternoon.
+
+Cora occupied herself in completing the biography of her late husband,
+which had been interrupted by the season in the city.
+
+Mr. Clarence often spent twenty-four hours at North End looking after
+the interests of the firm, and eating and sleeping at the hotel.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt came home every evening to dinner, but after dinner
+invariably shut himself up in his office and remained there until
+bedtime.
+
+Cora's evenings were as solitary as her mornings. But a change was at
+hand.
+
+One evening, on his return home, Mr. Rockharrt brought his own mail from
+the post office at North End.
+
+After dinner, instead of retiring to his office as usual, he came into
+the drawing room and found Cora.
+
+Dropping himself down in a large arm chair beside the round table, and
+drawing the moderator lamp nearer to him, he drew a letter from his
+breast pocket and said:
+
+"My dear, I have a very interesting communication here from Mrs.
+Stillwater--Miss Rose Flowers that was, you know."
+
+"I know," said Cora, coldly, and wondering what was coming next.
+
+"Poor child! She is a widow, thrown destitute upon the cold charities of
+the world again," he continued.
+
+Cora said nothing. She was marveling to hear this harsh, cruel,
+relentless man speaking with so much pity, tenderness, and consideration
+for this adventuress.
+
+"But I will read the letter to you," he said, "and then I will tell you
+what I mean to do."
+
+"Very well, sir," she replied, with much misgiving.
+
+He opened the letter and began to read as follows:
+
+    WIRT HOUSE, BALTIMORE, MD.,
+    May 15, 18--
+
+    MY MOST HONORED BENEFACTOR: I should not presume to
+    recall myself to your recollection had you not, in the large
+    bounty of your heart, once taken pity on the forlorn creature that
+    I am, and made me promise that if ever I should find myself
+    homeless, friendless, destitute, and desolate, I should write and
+    inform you.
+
+    My most revered friend, such is my sad, hopeless, pitiable
+    condition now.
+
+    My poor husband died of yellow fever in the West Indies about a
+    year ago, and his income and my support died with him.
+
+    For the last twelve months I have lived on the sale of my few
+    jewels, plate, and other personal property, which has gradually
+    melted away in the furnace of my misfortunes, while I have been
+    trying with all my might to obtain employment at my sometime trade
+    as teacher. But, oh, sir! the requirements of modern education
+    are far above my poor capabilities.
+
+    Now, at length, when my resources are well nigh exhausted--now,
+    when I can pay my board here only for a few weeks longer, and at
+    the end of that time must go forth--Heaven only knows where!--I
+    venture, in accordance with your own gracious permission, to make
+    this appeal to you! Not for pecuniary aid, which you will pardon
+    me if I say I could not receive from any one, but for such advice
+    and assistance as your wisdom and benevolence could afford me, in
+    finding me some honest way of earning my bread. Feeling assured
+    that your great goodness will not cast this poor note aside
+    unnoticed, I shall wait and hope to hear from you, and, in the
+    meanwhile, remain,
+
+    Your humble and obedient servant,
+    ROSE STILLWATER.
+
+"That is what I call a very pathetic appeal, Cora. She is a widow, poor
+child! Not such a widow as you are, Cora Rothsay, with wealth, friends,
+and position! She is a widow, indeed! Homeless, friendless,
+penniless--about to be cast forth into the streets! My dear, I got this
+letter this morning. I answered it within an hour after its reception! I
+invited her to come here as our guest, immediately, and to remain as
+long as she should feel inclined to stay--certainly until we could
+settle upon some plan of life for her future. I sent a check to pay her
+traveling expenses to North End, where I shall send the carriage to meet
+her. You will, therefore, Cora, have a comfortable room prepared for
+Mrs. Stillwater. I think she may be with us as early as to-morrow
+evening," said the Iron King.
+
+And he arose and strode out of the parlor, leaving his granddaughter
+confounded.
+
+Rose Stillwater the widow of a year's standing! Rose Stillwater coming
+to Rockhold as the guest of her aged and widowed grandfather! What a
+condition of things! What would be the outcome of this event? Cora
+shrank from conjecturing.
+
+She felt that there had been two factors in bringing about the
+situation: first, the death of her grandmother; second, the marriage of
+her Uncle Fabian. The field was thus left open for the operations of
+this scheming adventuress and siren.
+
+Cora had been so dismayed at the communication of her grandfather that
+she had scarcely answered him with a word. But he had been too deeply
+absorbed in his own thoughts and plans to notice her silence and
+reserve.
+
+He had expressed his wishes, given his orders, and gone out. That was
+all.
+
+What could Cora do?
+
+Nothing at all. Too well she knew the unbending nature of the Iron King
+to delude herself for a moment with the idea that any opposition,
+argument, or expostulation from her would have so much as a feather's
+weight with the despotic old man.
+
+If he had asked Mrs. Stillwater to Rockhold under present circumstances,
+Mrs. Stillwater would come, and he would have her there just as long as
+he pleased.
+
+Cora was at her wits' end. She resolved to write at once to her Uncle
+Fabian. Surely he must know the true character of this woman, and he
+must have broken off his very questionable acquaintance with her before
+marrying Violet Wood. Surely he would not allow his father to be so
+dangerously deceived in the person he had invited to his house--to the
+society of his granddaughter. He would unmask her, even though in doing
+so he should expose himself.
+
+She would also write to Sylvan, who from the very first had disliked and
+distrusted "the rose that all admire." And she thanked Heaven that Cadet
+Haught would graduate at the next exhibition at West Point and come
+home on leave for the midsummer holidays.
+
+While waiting answers from the two absent men she would consult her
+Uncle Clarence. Truth to tell, she had but little hope of help in this
+affair from her younger uncle. Mr. Clarence was so far from thinking
+evil of any one. He was so loath to give pain or have any disturbance in
+the domestic circle. He would be sure to feel compassion for Rose
+Stillwater. He would be sure to recall her pretty, helpful, pleasant
+ways, and the comfort both his father and his mother used to take in her
+playful manners and affectionate ministration. Mr. Clarence was much too
+benevolent to wish to interfere with any arrangement that was likely to
+make the house pleasant and cheerful to his aged father, and give a
+comfortable home and support to a desolate young widow. And that the
+Iron King should ever be seriously taken in by the beautiful and
+bewitching creature he would never believe. Yet Cora knew from all past
+experience that Rose Stillwater was more esteemed by old Aaron Rockharrt
+and had more influence over him than any living creature. Strange that a
+man so hard headed as the Iron King, and so clear brained on all
+occasions when not blinded by his egotism, should allow himself to be so
+deceived in any one as he was in Rose Stillwater.
+
+But, then, she knew how to flatter this egotism. She was beautiful and
+attractive in person, meek and submissive in manner, complimentary and
+caressing in words and tones.
+
+Cora asked herself whether it would be right, proper, or expedient for
+her to give information of that secret interview between Mr. Fabian and
+Mrs. Stillwater, to which she herself had been an accidental and most
+unwilling witness, on that warm night in September, in the hotel parlor
+at Baltimore.
+
+She could not refer to it in her intended letter to her Uncle Fabian. To
+do so would be useless and humiliating, if not very offensive. Her Uncle
+Fabian knew much more about that interview than she could tell him, and
+would be very much mortified and very indignant to learn that she knew
+anything of it. He might accuse her of being a spy and an eavesdropper,
+or he might deny and discredit her story altogether.
+
+No. No good could come of referring to that interview in her letter to
+her Uncle Fabian. She would merely mention to him the fact that Mrs.
+Stillwater had written to Mr. Rockharrt an appealing letter declaring
+herself to be widowed and destitute, and asking for advice and
+assistance in procuring employment; and that he had replied by inviting
+her to Rockhold for an indefinite period, and sent her a check to pay
+her traveling expenses. She would tell Mr. Fabian this as a mere item of
+news, expressing no opinion and taking no responsibility, but leaving
+her uncle to act as he might think proper.
+
+She could not tell her brother Sylvan of that secret interview, for she
+was sure that he would act with haste and indiscretion. Nor could she
+tell her Uncle Clarence, who would only find himself distressed and
+incapable under the emergency. Least of all could she tell her
+grandfather, and make an everlasting breach between himself and his son
+Fabian.
+
+No. She could tell no one of that secret interview to which she had been
+a chance witness--a shocked witness--but which she only half understood,
+and which, perhaps, did not mean all that she had feared and suspected.
+On that subject she must hold her peace, and only let the absent members
+of the family know of Mrs. Stillwater's intended visit as an item of
+domestic news, and leave any or all of them to act upon their own
+responsibility unbiased by any word from her.
+
+Cora's position was a very delicate and embarrassing one. She did not
+believe that this former nursery governess of hers was or ever had been
+a proper companion for her. She herself--Cora Rothsay--was now a widow
+with an independent income, and was at liberty to choose her own
+companions and make her home wherever she might choose.
+
+But how could she leave her aged and widowed grandfather, who had no
+other daughter or granddaughter, or any other woman relative to keep
+house for him? And yet how could she associate daily with a woman whose
+presence she felt to be a degradation?
+
+As we have seen, she knew and felt that it would be vain to oppose her
+grandfather's wish to have Mrs. Stillwater in the house, especially as
+he had already invited her and sent her the money to come--unless she
+should tell him of that secret interview she had witnessed between Mr.
+Fabian and Mrs. Stillwater. That, indeed, might banish Rose from
+Rockhold, but it would also bring down a domestic cataclysm that must
+break up the household and separate its members.
+
+No, she could say nothing, do nothing that would not make matters worse.
+She must let events take their course, bide her time and hope for the
+best, she said to herself, as she arose and rang the bell.
+
+John, the footman, answered the call.
+
+"It is Martha whom I want. Send her here," said the lady.
+
+The man went out and the upper housemaid came in.
+
+"You wanted me, ma'am?"
+
+"Yes. Do you remember the room occupied by my nursery governess years
+ago?"
+
+"Yes, ma'am; the front room on the left side of the hall on the third
+story."
+
+"Yes; that is the room. Have it prepared for the same person. She will
+be here to-morrow evening."
+
+"Good--Lord!" involuntarily exclaimed old Martha; "why, we haven't heard
+of her for a dozen years. What a sweet creeter she was, though, Miss
+Cora. I thought as she'd a married a fortin' long ago."
+
+"She has been married and widowed. At least she says so."
+
+"A widow, poor thing! And is she comin' to be a companion or anything?"
+
+"She is coming as a guest."
+
+"Oh! very well, Miss Cora; I will have the room ready in time."
+
+When the old woman had left the room Cora sat down to her writing desk
+and wrote two letters--one to Mr. Fabian Rockharrt, Hotel Trois Freres,
+Paris; the other to Cadet Sylvanus Haught, West Point, N.Y.
+
+When she had finished and sealed these she put them in the mail bag that
+was left in the hall to be taken at daybreak by the groom to North End
+post office. Then she retired to rest.
+
+The next morning she breakfasted tete-a-tete with her grandfather, Mr.
+Clarence having remained over night at North End. While they were still
+at the table the man John entered with a telegram, which he laid on the
+table before his master.
+
+"Who brought this?" inquired the Iron King, as he opened it.
+
+"Joseph brought it when he came back from the post office. It had just
+come, and Mr. Clarence gave it to Joseph to fetch to you, sir. Yes,
+sir!" replied John.
+
+"It is from Mrs. Stillwater. That lady is a perfect model of promptitude
+and punctuality. She says--but I had better read it to you. John, you
+need not wait," said Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+The negro, who had lingered from curiosity to hear what was in the
+telegram, immediately retired.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt took up the long slip, adjusted his spectacles and
+read:
+
+    WIRT HOUSE, BALTIMORE, MD., May 16th, 18--
+
+    A thousand heartfelt thanks for your princely munificence and
+    hospitality. I avail myself of both gladly and at once. I shall
+    leave Baltimore by the 8:30 a.m., and arrive at the North End
+    Station at 6:30 p.m.
+
+"That is her message. Now I wish you to have everything in readiness for
+her. I shall go in person to the depot and bring her home with me when I
+return in the evening. Of course it will be two hours later than usual
+when I get back here. You will, therefore, have the dinner put back
+until nine o'clock on this occasion."
+
+Cora bowed. She could scarcely trust her voice to answer in words.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt, absorbed in his own thoughts and plans, never noticed her
+coldness and silence. He soon finished breakfast, left the table, and a
+few minutes later entered his carriage to drive to North End.
+
+"'Pears to me old marse is jes' wonderful, Miss Cora. To go to his
+business every day like clock work, and he 'bout seventy-seven years
+old. And jes' as straight and strong as a pine tree! Yes, and as hard as
+a pine knot! He's wonderful, that he is!" said old Jason, the gray
+haired negro butler, when he came in from seeing his master off and
+began to clear away the breakfast service.
+
+"Yes; your master is a fine, strong man, Jason--physically," replied
+Cora, who was beginning to doubt the mental soundness of her
+grandfather!
+
+"Physicking! No, indeed! 'Tain't that as makes the old g'eman so
+strong. He nebber would take no physic in all his life. It's
+consternation, that's w'at it is--his good, healthy consternation!"
+
+"Very likely!" replied Cora, who was too much disturbed to set the old
+man right.
+
+She left the breakfast parlor, and went up stairs to superintend in
+person the preparation for the comfort of the expected guest.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+THE SIREN AND THE DESPOT.
+
+
+That May night was clear and cool. The sky was brilliant with stars,
+sparkling and flashing from the pure, dark blue empyrean.
+
+In the house it was chilly, so Cora had caused fires to be built in all
+the grates.
+
+The drawing room at Rockhold presented a very attractive appearance,
+with its three chandeliers of lighted wax candles, its cheerful fire of
+sea coal, its warm crimson and gold coloring of carpets and curtains,
+and its luxurious easy chairs, sofas and ottomans, its choice pictures,
+books, bronzes and so forth. In the small dining room the table was set
+for dinner, in the best spare room all was prepared for its expected
+occupant.
+
+Cora, in her widow's cap and dress, sat in an arm chair before the
+drawing room fire, awaiting the arrival. Half past eight had been the
+hour named by her grandfather for their coming. But a few minutes after
+the clock had struck, the sound of carriage wheels was heard on the
+avenue approaching the house.
+
+Old Jason opened the hall door just as the vehicle drew up and stopped.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt alighted and then gave his hand to his companion, who
+tripped lightly to the pavement, and let him lead her up stairs and into
+the house. Cora stood at the door of the drawing room. Mr. Rockharrt led
+his visitor up to his granddaughter, and said:
+
+"Mrs. Stillwater is very much fatigued, Cora. Take her at once to her
+room and make her comfortable; and have dinner on the table by the time
+she is ready to come down."
+
+He uttered these words in a peremptory manner, without waiting for the
+usual greeting that should have passed between the hostess and the
+visitor.
+
+Cora touched a bell.
+
+"Oh! let me embrace my sweet Cora first of all! Ah! my sweet child! You
+and I both widowed since the last time we met!" cooed Rose, in her most
+dulcet tones, as she drew Cora to her bosom and kissed her before the
+latter could draw back.
+
+"How do you do?" was the formal greeting that fell from the lady's lips.
+
+"As you see, dearest--'Not happy, but resigned,'" plaintively replied
+the widow.
+
+"You quote from a king's minion, I think," said Cora, coldly.
+
+Rose took no notice of the criticism, but tenderly inquired.
+
+"And you, dearest one? How is it with you?"
+
+"I am very well, thank you," replied the lady.
+
+"After such a terrible trial! But you always possessed a heroic spirit."
+
+"We will not speak of that, Mrs. Stillwater, if you please," was the
+grave reply.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt looked around, as well as he could while old Jason was
+drawing off his spring overcoat, and said:
+
+"Take Mrs. Stillwater to her room, Cora. Don't keep her standing here."
+
+"I have rung for a servant, who will attend to Mrs. Stillwater's needs,"
+replied the lady, quietly.
+
+The Iron King turned and stared at his granddaughter angrily, but said
+nothing.
+
+The housemaid came up at this moment.
+
+"Martha, show Mrs. Stillwater to the chamber prepared for her, and wait
+her orders there."
+
+The negro woman wiped her clean hand on her clean apron--as a mere
+useless form--and then held it out to the visitor, saying, with the
+scorn of conventionality and the freedom of an old family servant:
+
+"How do Miss Rose! 'Deed I's mighty proud to see you ag'in--'deed I is!
+How much you has growed! I mean, how han'some you has growed! You allers
+was han'some, but now you's han'somer'n ever! 'Deed, honey, you's
+mons'ous han'some!"
+
+This hearty welcome and warm admiration, though only from the negro
+servant, helped to relieve the embarrassment of the visitor, who felt
+the chill of Cora's cold reception.
+
+"Thank you, Aunt Martha," she said, and followed the woman up stairs.
+
+"Why did you not attend Mrs. Stillwater to her room?" sternly demanded
+the Iron King, fixing his eyes severely on his granddaughter, as soon as
+the visitor was out of hearing.
+
+"It is not usual to do anything of the sort, sir, except in the case of
+the guest being a very distinguished person or a very dear friend. My
+ex-governess is neither. She shall, however, be treated with all due
+respect by me so long as she remains under your roof," quietly replied
+Cora.
+
+"You had best see to it that she is," retorted the Iron King, as he
+stalked up stairs to his own room, followed by his valet.
+
+Cora returned to the drawing room, and seated herself in her arm chair,
+and put her feet upon her foot-stool, and leaned back, to appearance
+quite composed, but in reality very much perturbed. Had she acted well
+in her manner to her grandfather's guest? She did not know. She could
+not, therefore, feel at ease. She certainly did not treat Mrs.
+Stillwater with rudeness or hauteur; she was quite incapable of doing
+so; yet, on the other hand, neither had she treated her ex-governess
+with kindness or courtesy. She had been calm and cold in her reception
+of the visitor; that was all. But was she right? After all, she knew no
+positive evil of the woman. She had only strong circumstantial evidence
+of her unworthiness. She recalled an old saying of her father's:
+
+"Better trust a hundred rogues than distrust one honest man."
+
+Yet all Cora's instincts warned her not to trust Rose Stillwater.
+
+After all, she could do nothing--at least at present. She would wait the
+developments of time, and then, perhaps, be able to see her duty more
+clearly. Meanwhile, for family peace and good feeling, she would be
+civil to Rose Stillwater. Half an hour passed, and her meditations were
+interrupted by the entrance of the guest. Mrs. Stillwater seemed
+determined not to understand coldness or to take offense. She came in,
+drew her chair to the fire, and spread out her pretty hands over its
+glow, cooing her delight to be with dear friends again.
+
+"Oh, darling Cora," she purred, "you do not know--you cannot even
+fancy--the ineffable sense of repose I feel in being here, after all the
+turbulence of the past year. You read my letter to your dearest
+grandfather?"
+
+"Yes," answered Mrs. Rothsay.
+
+"From that you must have seen to what straits I was reduced. Think!
+After having sold everything I possessed in the world--even all my
+clothing, except two changes for necessary cleanliness--to pay my board;
+after trying in every direction to get honest work to do; I was in daily
+fear of being told to leave the hotel because I could not pay my board."
+
+"That was very sad! but was it not very expensive--for you--living at
+the Wirt House? Would it not have been better, under your circumstances,
+to have taken cheaper board?"
+
+"Perhaps so, dear; but Captain Stillwater had always made his home at
+the Wirt House when his ship was in port, and had always left me there
+when his ship sailed, so that I felt at home in the house, you see."
+
+"Yes, I see," said Mrs. Rothsay.
+
+"Oh, my fondly cherished darling--you, loved, sheltered, caressed--you,
+rich, admired, and flattered--cannot understand or appreciate the trials
+and sufferings of a poor woman in my position and circumstances. Think,
+darling, of my condition in that city, where I was homeless, friendless,
+penniless, in daily fear of being sent from the house for inability to
+pay my board!"
+
+"I am sorry to hear all this," said Cora. And then she was prompted to
+add: "But where was Mr. Fabian Rockharrt? He was your earliest friend.
+He first introduced you to my grandfather. He never lost sight of you
+after you left us, but corresponded with you frequently, and gave us
+news of you from time to time. Surely, Mrs. Stillwater, had he known
+your straits, he would have found some way of setting you up in some
+business. He never would have allowed you to suffer privation and
+anxiety for a whole year."
+
+While Cora spoke she fixed her eyes on the face of her listener. But
+Rose Stillwater was always perfect mistress of herself. Without the
+slightest change in countenance or voice, she answered sweetly:
+
+"Why, dear love, of course I did write to Mr. Fabian first of all, and
+told him of the death of my dear husband, and asked him if he could help
+me to get another situation as primary teacher in a school or as a
+nursery governess."
+
+"And he did not respond?"
+
+"Oh, yes; indeed he did. He replied very promptly, writing that he had a
+situation in view for me which would be better suited to my needs than
+any I had ever filled, and that he should come to Baltimore to explain
+and consult with me."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"The next day, dear, he came, and--I hate to betray his confidence and
+tell you."
+
+"Then do not, I beg you."
+
+"But--I hate more to keep a secret from you. In short, he asked me to
+marry him."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Cora, in surprise and incredulity.
+
+"Yes, my love; that was what he had to explain. The position of his wife
+was the situation he had to offer me, and which he thought would suit me
+better than any other I had ever filled."
+
+"When was this proposal made?"
+
+"About five months ago, and about seven months after the death of my
+dear husband. He said that he would be willing to wait until the year of
+mourning should be over."
+
+"Oh, that was considerate of him."
+
+"But I was still heart-broken for the loss of my dear husband. I could
+not think of another marriage at any time, however distant. I told him
+so. I told him how much I esteemed and respected him and even loved him
+as a dear friend, but that I could not be faithless to the memory of my
+adored husband. I was very sorry; for he was very angry. He called me
+cold, silly and even ungrateful, so to reject his hand. I began to think
+that it was selfish and thankless in me to disappoint so good a friend,
+but I could not help it, loving the memory of my sainted husband as I
+did. I was grieved to hurt Mr. Fabian, though."
+
+"I do not think he was seriously injured. At least I am sure that his
+wounds healed rapidly; for in a very few weeks afterward he proposed to
+Miss Violet Wood, and was accepted by her. They were married on the
+fourteenth day of February, and sailed for Europe the next day," said
+Mrs. Rothsay.
+
+"Yes; I know. Disappointed men do such desperate deeds; commit suicide
+or marry for revenge. Poor, dear girl!" murmured Rose Stillwater, with a
+deep sigh.
+
+"Why poor, dear girl?" inquired Cora.
+
+"Oh, you know, she caught his heart in the rebound, and she will not
+keep it. But let us talk of something else, dear. Oh, I am so happy
+here. So free from fear and trouble and anxiety. Oh, what ineffable
+peace, rest, safety I enjoy here. No one will pain me by presenting a
+bill that I cannot pay, or frighten me by telling me that my room will
+be wanted for some one else. Oh, how I thank you, Cora. And how I thank
+your honored grandfather for this city of refuge, even for a few days."
+
+"You owe no thanks to me," replied Cora.
+
+"A thousand thanks, my darling!" said Rose, and hearing the heavy
+footsteps of the Iron King in the hail, she added--as if she heard them
+not: "And as for Mr. Rockharrt, that noble, large brained, great hearted
+man, I have no words to express the gratitude, the reverence, the
+adoration with which his magnanimous character and munificent
+benevolence inspires me. He is of all men the most--"
+
+But here she seemed first to have caught sight of the Iron King, who was
+standing in the door, and who had heard every word of adulation that she
+had spoken.
+
+"Cora, is not dinner ready?" he inquired, coming forward.
+
+"Yes, sir; only waiting for you," answered the lady, touching a bell.
+
+The gray haired butler came to the call.
+
+"Put dinner on the table," ordered Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+The old butler bowed and disappeared; and after awhile reappeared and
+announced:
+
+"Dinner served, sir."
+
+Mr. Rockharrt gave his arm to Mrs. Stillwater, to take her to the table.
+
+"Will not my Uncle Clarence be home this evening?" inquired Cora, as the
+three took their seats.
+
+"No; he will not be home before Saturday night. Since Fabian went away
+there has been twice as much supervision over the foremen and
+bookkeepers needed there, and Clarence is very busy over the accounts,
+working night and day," replied the Iron King, as he took a plate of
+soup from the hands of the butler and passed it to Mrs. Stillwater, who
+received it with the beaming smile that she always bestowed on the Iron
+King.
+
+She was the life of the little party. If she was a broken hearted widow,
+she did not show it there. She smiled, gleamed, glowed, sparkled in
+countenance and words. The moody Iron King was cheered and exhilarated,
+and said, as he filled her glass for the first time with Tokay, "Though
+you do not need wine to stimulate you, my child. You are full of joyous
+life and spirits."
+
+"Oh, sir, pardon me. Perhaps I ought to control myself; but I am so
+happy to be here through your great goodness; so free from care and
+fear; so full of peace and joy; so safe, so sheltered! I feel like a
+storm beaten bird who has found a nest, or a lost child who has found a
+home, and I forget all my losses and all my sorrows and give myself up
+to delight. Pardon me, sir; I know I ought to be calmer."
+
+"Not at all, not at all, my child! I am glad to see you so gay. I
+approve of you. You have suffered more than either of us, for you have
+not only lost your life's companion, but home, fortune, and all your
+living. My granddaughter here, as you may see, is a monument of morbid,
+selfish sorrow, which she will not try to throw off even for my sake.
+But you will brighten us all."
+
+"I wish I might; oh, how I wish I might! It seems to me it is easy to be
+happy if one has only a safe home and a good friend," said Rose.
+
+"And those you shall always have in me and in my house, my child," said
+the Iron King.
+
+Cora listened in pure amazement. Her grandfather sympathetic! Her
+grandfather giving praise and quoting poetry! What was the matter with
+him? Not softening of the heart; he had never possessed such a
+commodity. Was it softening of the brain, then? As soon as they had
+finished dinner and returned to the drawing room, the Iron King said to
+his guest:
+
+"Now, my child, I shall send you off to bed. You have had a very long
+and fatiguing journey and must have a good, long night's sleep."
+
+And with his own hands he lighted a wax taper and gave it to her. Rose
+received it with a grateful smile, bade a sweet toned good night to Mr.
+Rockharrt and Mrs. Rothsay, and went tripping out of the room.
+
+"I shall say good night, too, Cora; I am tired. But let me say this
+before I go: Do you try to take pattern by that admirable child. See how
+she tries to make the best of everything and to be pleasant under all
+her sorrows. You have not had half her troubles, and yet you will not
+try to get over your own. Imitate that poor child, Cora."
+
+"'Child,' my dear grandfather! Do you forget that Mrs. Stillwater is a
+widow thirty-six years old?" inquired Cora.
+
+"'Thirty-six.' I had not thought of it, and yet of course I knew it.
+Well, so much the better. Yet child she is compared to me, and child she
+is in her perfect trust, her innocent faith, her meekness, candor and
+simplicity, and the delightful abandon with which she gives herself to
+the enjoyment of the passing hour. This will be a brighter house for the
+presence of Rose Stillwater in it," said the Iron King, as he took up
+his taper and rang for his valet and left the room.
+
+Cora sat a long time in meditation before she arose and followed his
+example. When she entered her chamber, she was surprised and annoyed to
+find Rose Stillwater there, seated in the arm chair before the fire. Old
+Martha was turning down the bed for the night.
+
+"Cora, love, it is not yet eleven o'clock, though the dear master did
+send us off to bed. But I wanted to speak to you, darling Cora, just a
+few words, dear, before we part for the night; so when I met my old
+friend, Aunt Martha, in the hall, I asked her to show me which was your
+room, so I could come to you when you should come up; but Aunt Martha
+told me she was on the way to your room to prepare your bed for the
+night, and she would bring me here to sit down and wait for you. So here
+I am, dear Cora."
+
+"You wished to speak to me, you say?" inquired Mrs. Rothsay, drawing
+another chair and seating herself before the fire.
+
+"Yes, darling; only to say this, love, that I have not come here to
+sponge upon your kindness. I will be no drone. I wish to be useful to
+you, Cora. Now you are far away from all milliners and dress makers and
+seamstresses, and I am very skillful with my needle and can do
+everything you might wish to have done in that line--I mean in the way
+of trimming and altering bonnets or dresses. I do not think I could cut
+and fit."
+
+"Mrs. Stillwater," interrupted Cora, "you are our guest, and you must
+not think of such a plan as you suggest."
+
+"Oh, my dear Cora, do not speak to me as if I were only company. I, your
+old governess! Do not make a stranger of me. Let me be as one of the
+family. Let me be useful to you and to your dear grandfather. Then I
+shall feel at home; then I shall be happy," pleaded Rose.
+
+"But, Mrs. Stillwater, we have not been accustomed to set our guests to
+work. The idea is preposterous," said the inexorable Cora.
+
+"Oh, my dear, do not treat me as a guest. Treat me as you did when I was
+your governess. Make me useful; will you not, dear Cora?"
+
+"You are very kind, but I would rather not trouble you."
+
+"Ah, I see; you are tired and sleepy. I will not keep you up, but I must
+make myself useful to you in some way. Well, good night, dear," said the
+widow, as she stooped and kissed her hostess. Then she left the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+THE SPELL WORKS.
+
+
+Rose Stillwater was very near overdoing her part. She rose early the
+next morning and came down in the drawing room before any of the family
+had put in an appearance. She had scarcely seated herself before the
+bright little sea coal fire that the chilly spring morning rendered very
+acceptable, if not really necessary, when she heard the heavy, measured
+footsteps of the master of the house coming down the stairs. Then she
+rose impulsively as if in a flutter of delight to go and meet him; but
+checked herself and sat down and waited for him to come in.
+
+"How heavily the old ogre walks! His step would shake the house, if it
+could be shaken. He comes like the statue of the commander in the
+opera."
+
+She listened, but his footsteps died away on the soft, deep carpet of
+the library into which he passed.
+
+"Ah! he does not know that I am down!" she said to herself,
+complacently, as she settled back in her chair. Cora came in and greeted
+Rose with ceremonious politeness, having resolved, at length, to treat
+Mrs. Stillwater as an honored guest, not as a cherished friend or member
+of the household.
+
+"Good morning, Mrs. Stillwater. I hope you have had a good night's rest
+and feel refreshed after your journey," she said.
+
+Rose responded effusively:
+
+"Ah, good morning, dear love! Yes; thank you, darling, a lovely night's
+rest, undisturbed by the thoughts of debts and duns and a doubtful
+future. I slept so deeply and sweetly through the night that I woke
+quite early this morning. The birds were in full song. You must have
+millions of birds here! And the subtile, penetrating fragrance of the
+hyacinths came into the window as soon as I opened it. How I love the
+early spring flowers that come to us almost through the winter snows and
+before we have done with fires."
+
+Cora did not reply to this rhapsody. Then Rose inquired:
+
+"Does your grandfather go regularly to look after the works as he used
+to do?"
+
+"Mr. Rockharrt drives to North End every day," replied Cora.
+
+"It is amazing, at his age," said Rose.
+
+"Some acute observer has said that 'age is a movable feast.' Age, no
+more than death, is a respecter of persons or of periods. Men grow old,
+as they die, at any age. Some grow old at fifty, others not before they
+are a hundred. I think Mr. Rockharrt belongs to the latter class."
+
+"I am sure he does."
+
+Cora did not confirm this statement.
+
+Rose made another venture in conversation:
+
+"So both the gentlemen go every day to the works?"
+
+"Mr. Rockharrt goes every day. Mr. Clarence usually remains there from
+Monday morning until Saturday evening."
+
+"At the works?"
+
+"Yes; or at the hotel, where he has a suite of rooms which he occupies
+occasionally."
+
+"Dear me! So you have been alone here all day long, every day but
+Sunday! And now I have come to keep you company, darling! You shall not
+feel lonely any longer. And--what was that Mary Queen of Scots said to
+her lady hostess on the night she passed at the castle in her sad
+progress from one prison to another:
+
+"'We two widows, having no husbands to trouble us, may agree very
+well,' or words to that effect. So, darling, you and I, having no
+husbands to trouble us, may also agree very well. Shall we not?"
+
+"I cannot speak so lightly on so grave a subject, Mrs. Stillwater," said
+Cora.
+
+Old Mr. Rockharrt came in.
+
+"Good morning, Cora! Good morning, Mrs. Stillwater! I hope you feel
+quite rested from your journey."
+
+"Oh, quite, thank you! And when I woke up this morning, I was so
+surprised and delighted to find myself safe at home! Ah! I beg pardon!
+But I spent so many years in this dear old house, the happiest years of
+my life, that I always think of it as home, the only home I ever had in
+all my life," said Rose, pathetically, while tears glistened in her soft
+blue eyes.
+
+"You poor child! Well, there is no reason why you should ever leave this
+haven again. My granddaughter needs just such a bright companion as you
+are sure to be. And who so fitting a one as her first young governess?"
+
+"Oh, sir, you are so good to me! May heaven reward you! But Mrs.
+Rothsay?" she said, with an appealing glance toward Cora.
+
+"I do not need a companion; if I did, I should advertise for one. The
+position of companion is also a half menial one, which I should never
+associate with the name of Mrs. Stillwater, who is our guest," replied
+Cora, with cold politeness.
+
+"You see, my dear ex-pupil will not let me serve her in any capacity,"
+said Rose, with a piteous glance toward the Iron King.
+
+"You have both misunderstood me," he answered, with a severe glance
+toward his granddaughter, "I never thought of you as a companion to
+Mrs. Rothsay, in the professional sense of that word, but in the sense
+in which daughters of the same house are companions to each other."
+
+"I should not shrink from any service to my dear Cora," said Rose
+Stillwater, and she was about to add--"nor to you, sir," but she thought
+it best not to say it, and refrained.
+
+When breakfast was over, and the Rockhold carriage was at the door to
+convey the Iron King to North End, the old autocrat arose from the table
+and strode into the hall, calling for his valet to come and help him on
+with his light overcoat.
+
+"Let me! let me! Oh, do please let me?" exclaimed Rose, jumping up and
+following him. "Do you remember the last time I put on your overcoat? It
+was on that morning in Baltimore, years ago, when we parted at the
+Monument House; you to go to the depot to take the cars for this place,
+I to remain in the city to await the arrival of my husband's ship? Nine
+years ago! There, now! Have I not done it as well as your valet could?"
+she prattled, as she deftly assisted him.
+
+"Better, my child, much better! You are not rough; your hands are dainty
+as well as strong. Thank you, child," said Mr. Rockharrt, settling
+himself with a jerk or two into his spring overcoat.
+
+"Oh, do let me perform these little services for you always! It will
+make me feel so happy!"
+
+"But it will give you trouble."
+
+"Oh, indeed, no! not the least! It will give me only pleasure."
+
+"You are a very good child, but I will not tax you. Good morning! I must
+be off," said Mr. Rockharrt, shaking hands with Rose, and then hurrying
+out to get into his carriage.
+
+Rose stood in the door looking after him, until the brougham rolled
+away out of sight.
+
+At luncheon Rose Stillwater seemed so determined to be pleasant that it
+was next to impossible for Cora Rothsay to keep up the formal demeanor
+she had laid out for herself.
+
+"It is very lonely for you here, my dear. How soon does your grandfather
+usually return? I know he must have been later than usual last night,
+because he had to go to the depot to meet me," Rose said.
+
+"Mr. Rockharrt usually returns at six o'clock. We have dinner at
+half-past," replied Cora.
+
+"And this is two! Four hours and a half yet!"
+
+"The afternoon is very fine. Will you take a walk with me in the
+garden?" inquired Cora, as they left the dining room, feeling some
+compunction for the persistent coldness with which she had treated her
+most gentle and obliging guest.
+
+"Oh, thank you very much, dear. With the greatest pleasure! It will be
+just like old times, when we used to walk in the garden together, you a
+little child holding on to my hand. And now--But we won't talk of that,"
+said Rose.
+
+And she fled up stairs to get her hat and shawl.
+
+And the two women sauntered for half an hour among the early roses and
+spring flowers in the beautiful Rockhold garden.
+
+Then they came in and went to the library together and looked over the
+new magazines. Presently Cora said:
+
+"We all use the library in common to write our letters in. If you have
+letters to write, you will find every convenience in either of those
+side tables at the windows."
+
+"Yes. Just as it used to be in the old times when I was so happy here!
+When the dear old lady was here! Ah, me! But I will not think of that.
+She is in heaven, as sure as there is a heaven for angels such as she,
+and we must not grieve for the sainted ones. But I have no letters to
+write, dear. I have no correspondents in all the world. Indeed, dear
+Cora, I have no friend in the world outside of this house," said Rose,
+with a little sigh that touched Cora's heart, compelling her to
+sympathize with this lonely creature, even against her better judgment.
+
+"Is not Mr. Fabian friendly toward you?" inquired Cora, from mixed
+motives--of half pity, half irony.
+
+"Fabian?" sweetly replied Rose. "No, dear. I lost the friendship of Mr.
+Fabian Rockharrt when I declined his offer of marriage. You refuse a
+man, and so wound his vanity; and though you may never have given him
+the least encouragement to propose to you, and though he has not the
+shadow of a reason to believe that you will accept yet will he take
+great offense, and perhaps become your mortal enemy," sighed Rose.
+
+"But I think Uncle Fabian is too good natured for that sort of malice."
+
+"I don't know, dear. I have never seen him since he left me in anger on
+the day I begged off from marrying him. Really, darling, it was more
+like begging off than refusing."
+
+But little more was said on the subject, and presently afterward the two
+went up stairs to dress for dinner.
+
+Punctually at six o'clock Mr. Rockharrt returned. And the evening passed
+as on the preceding day, with this addition to its attractions: Mrs.
+Stillwater went to the piano and played and sang many of Mr. Rockharrt's
+favorite songs--the old fashioned songs of his youth--Tom Moore's Irish
+melodies, Robert Burns' Scotch ballads, and a miscellaneous assortment
+of English ditties--all of which were before Rose's time, but which she
+had learned from old Mrs. Rockharrt's ancient music books during her
+first residence at Rockhold, that she might please the Iron King by
+singing them.
+
+Surely the siren left nothing untried to please her patron and
+benefactor.
+
+When he complained of fatigue and bade the two women good night, she
+started and lighted his wax candle and gave it to him. The next day she
+was on hand to help him on with his great coat, and to hand him his
+gloves and hat, and he thanked her with a smile.
+
+So went on life at Rockhold all the week.
+
+On Saturday evening Mr. Clarence came home with his father and greeted
+Rose Stillwater with the kindly courtesy that was habitual with him.
+
+There were four at the dinner table. And Rose, having so excellent a
+coadjutor in the younger Rockharrt, was even gayer and more chatty than
+ever, making the meal a lively and cheerful one even for moody Aaron
+Rockharrt and sorrowful Cora Rothsay.
+
+After dinner, when the party had gone into the drawing room, Mrs.
+Stillwater said:
+
+"Here are just four of us. Just enough for a game at whist. Shall we
+have a rubber, Mr. Rockharrt?"
+
+"Yes, my child! Certainly, with all my heart! I thank you for the
+suggestion! I have not had a game of whist since we left the city. Ah,
+my child, we have had very stupid evenings here at home until you came
+and brought some life into the house. Clarence, draw out the card table.
+Cora, go and find the cards."
+
+"Let me! Let me! Please let me!" exclaimed Rose, starting up with
+childish eagerness. "Where are the cards, Cora, dear?"
+
+"They are in the drawer of the card table. You need not stir to find
+them, thank you, Mrs. Stillwater."
+
+"No; here they are all ready," said Mr. Clarence, who had drawn the
+table up before the fire and taken the pack of cards from the drawer.
+
+The party of four sat down for the game.
+
+"We must cut for partners," said Mr. Rockharrt, shuffling the cards and
+then handing them to Mrs. Stillwater for the first cut.
+
+"The highest and the two lowest to be partners?" inquired Rose, as she
+lifted half the pack.
+
+"Of course, that is the rule."
+
+Each person cut in turn, and fortune favored Mrs. Stillwater to Mr.
+Clarence, and Cora to Mr. Rockharrt. Then they cut for deal, and fortune
+favored Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+The cards were dealt around.
+
+Rose Stillwater had an excellent hand, and she knew by the pleased looks
+of her partner, Mr. Clarence, that he also had a good one; and by the
+annoyed expression of Mr. Rockharrt's face that he had a bad one. Cora's
+countenance was as the sphnix's; she was too sadly preoccupied to care
+for this game.
+
+However, Rose determined that she would play into the hand of her
+antagonist and not into that of her partner.
+
+Pursuing this policy, she watched Mr. Rockharrt's play, always returned
+his lead, and when her attention was called to the error, she would
+flush, exhibit a lovely childlike embarrassment, declare that she was no
+whist player at all, and beg to be forgiven; and the very next moment
+she would trump her partner's trick, or purposely commit some other
+blunder that would be sure to give the trick to Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+Mr. Clarence was the soul of good humor, but it was provoking to have
+his own "splendid" hand so ruined by the bad play of his partner that
+their antagonists, with such very poor hands, actually won the odd
+trick.
+
+In the next deal Rose got a "miserable" hand; so did her partner, as she
+discovered by his looks, while Mr. Rockharrt must have had a magnificent
+hand, to judge from his triumphant expression of countenance.
+
+Rose could, therefore, now afford to redeem her place in the esteem of
+her partner by playing her very best, without the slightest danger of
+taking a single trick.
+
+To be brief, through Rose's management Mr. Rockharrt and Cora won the
+rubber, and the Iron King rose from the card table exultant, for what
+old whist player is not pleased with winning the rubber?
+
+"My child," he said to Rose Stillwater, "this is altogether the
+pleasantest evening that we have passed since we left the city, and all
+through you bringing life and activity among us! I do not think we can
+ever afford to let you go."
+
+"Oh, sir! you are too good. Would to heaven that I might find some place
+in your household akin to that which I once filled during the happiest
+years of my life, when I lived here as your dear granddaughter's
+governess," said Rose Stillwater, with a sigh and a smile.
+
+"You shall never leave us again with my consent. Ah, we have had a very
+pleasant evening. What do you think, Clarence?"
+
+"Very pleasant for the winners, sir," replied the young man, with a good
+humored laugh, as he lighted his bed room candle and bade them all good
+night.
+
+Soon after the little party separated and retired for the night.
+
+As time passed, Rose Stillwater continued to make herself more and more
+useful to her host and benefactor. She enlivened his table and his
+evenings at home by her cheerful conversation, her music and her games.
+She waited on him hand and foot, helped him on and off with his wraps
+when he went out or came in; warmed his slippers, filled his pipe, dried
+his newspapers, served him in innumerable little ways with a childlike
+eagerness and delight that was as the incense of frankincense and myrrh
+to the nostrils of the egotist.
+
+And he praised her and held her up as a model to his granddaughter.
+
+Rose Stillwater was a proper young woman, a model young woman, all
+indeed that a woman should be. He had never seen one to approach her
+status in all his long life. She was certainly the most excellent of her
+sex. He did not know what in this gloomy house they could ever do
+without her.
+
+Such was the burden of his talk to Cora.
+
+Mrs. Rothsay gave but cold assent to all this. She had too much
+reverence for the fifth commandment to tell her grandfather what she
+thought of the situation--that Rose Stillwater was making a notable fool
+of him, either for the sake of keeping a comfortable home, or gaining a
+place in his will, or of something greater still which would include all
+the rest.
+
+She tried to treat the woman with cold civility. But how could she
+persevere in such a course of conduct toward a beautiful blue eyed angel
+who was always eager to please, anxious to serve?
+
+Cora felt that this woman was a fraud, yet when she met her lovely,
+candid, heaven blue eyes she could not believe in her own intuitions.
+Cora, like some few unenvious women, was often affected by other women's
+beauty. The childlike loveliness of her quondam teacher really touched
+her heart. So she could not at all times maintain the dignified reserve
+that she wished toward Rose Stillwater.
+
+Meantime the day approached when it was decided that they should all go
+to West Point to the commencement, at which Cadet Sylvan Haught was
+expected to graduate.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt had invited Mrs. Stillwater to be of their party, and
+insisted upon her accompanying them.
+
+Rose demurred. She even ventured to hint that Mrs. Rothsay might not
+like her to go with them; whereupon the Iron King gathered his brow so
+darkly and fearfully, and said so sternly:
+
+"She had better not dislike it," that Rose hastened to say that it was
+only her own secret misgiving, and that no part of Mrs. Rothsay's
+demeanor had led her to such a supposition.
+
+And she resolved never again to drop a hint of her hostess' too evident
+suspicion of herself to the family autocrat, for it was the last mistake
+that Mrs. Stillwater could possibly wish to make--to kindle anger
+between grandfather and granddaughter. Her policy was to forbear, to be
+patient, to conciliate, and to bide her time.
+
+"Cora," said the Iron King, abruptly, to his granddaughter, at the
+breakfast table, on the morning after this conversation, and in the
+presence of their guest, "do you object to Mrs. Stillwater joining our
+traveling party to West Point?"
+
+"Certainly not, sir. What right have I to object to any one whom you
+might please to invite?"
+
+"No right whatever. And I am glad that you understand that," replied Mr.
+Rockharrt.
+
+Rose was trembling for fear that her benefactor would betray her as the
+suggester of the question, but he did not.
+
+Cora had received no letter from her Uncle Fabian in answer to hers
+announcing the fact of Mrs. Stillwater's presence at Rockhold.
+
+Mr. Fabian wrote no letters, except business ones to the firm, and
+these were opened at the office of the works, and never brought to
+Rockhold.
+
+If Cora should ever inquire of her grandfather whether he had heard from
+Mr. and Mrs. Fabian Rockharrt, his answer would be brief--
+
+"Yes; they are both well. They are at Paris. They are at Berne. They are
+at Aix," or wherever the tourists might then chance to be.
+
+Sylvan was a better correspondent. He answered her letters promptly. His
+comments on the visit of Rose Stillwater were characteristic of the boy.
+
+"So you have got the Rose 'that all admire' transplanted to the
+conservatories of Rockhold. Wish you joy of her. She is a rose without a
+single thorn, and with a deadly sweet aroma. Mind what I told you long
+ago. It contains the wisdom of ages. 'Stillwater runs deep.' Mind it
+does not draw in and submerge the peace and honor of Rockhold. I shall
+see you at the exhibition, when we can talk more freely over this
+complication. If Mrs. Stillwater is to remain as a permanent guest at
+Rockhold, I shall ask my sister to join me wherever I may be ordered,
+after my leave of absence has expired. You see I fully calculate on
+receiving my commission."
+
+Cora looked forward anxiously to this meeting with her brother. Only the
+thought of seeing him a little sooner than she should otherwise have
+done could reconcile her to the proposed trip to West Point, where she
+must be surrounded by all the gayeties of the Military Academy at its
+annual exercises.
+
+Cora had yielded to her grandfather's despotic will in going a little
+into society while they occupied their town house in the State capital.
+But she took no pleasure--not the least pleasure--in this.
+
+To her wounded heart and broken spirit the world's wealth was dross and
+its honors--vapor!
+
+The only life worth living she had lost, or had recklessly thrown away.
+Her soul turned, sickened, from all on earth, to seek her lost love
+through the unknown, invisible spheres.
+
+She still wore around her neck the thin gold chain, and suspended from
+it, resting on her bosom, the precious little black silk bag that
+contained the last tender, loving, forgiving, encouraging letter that he
+had written to her on the night of his great renunciation for her sake,
+when he had left all his hard won honors and dignities, and gone forth
+in loneliness and poverty to the wilderness and to martyrdom.
+
+Oh, she felt she was never worthy of such a love as that; the love that
+had toiled for her through long years; the love that had died for her at
+last; the love that she had never recognized, never appreciated; the
+love of a great hearted man, whom she had never truly seen until he was
+lost to her forever.
+
+So long as he had lived on earth Cora had cherished a hope to meet him,
+"sometime, somehow, somewhere."
+
+But now he had left this planet. Oh! where in the Lord's universe was
+he? In what immeasurably distant sphere? Oh! that her spirit could reach
+him where he lived! Oh, that she could cause him to hear her cry--her
+deep cry of repentance and anguish!
+
+But no; he never heard her; he never came near her in spirit, even in
+her dreams, as the departed are sometimes said to come and comfort the
+loved ones left on earth.
+
+During these moods of dark despair Cora was so gloomy and reserved that
+she seemed to treat her unwelcome guest worse than ever, when, in truth,
+she was not even seeing or thinking of the intruder.
+
+The Iron King, however, noticed his granddaughter's coldness and
+reserve, and he deeply resented it.
+
+One very rainy, dismal Sunday they were all at home and in the drawing
+room. Cora had sat for hours in silence, or replying to Mrs.
+Stillwater's frequent attempts to draw her into conversation in brief
+monosyllables, until at last the visitor arose and left the room, not
+hurt or offended, as Mr. Rockharrt supposed, but simply tired of staying
+so long in one place.
+
+But the Iron King turned on his granddaughter and demanded:
+
+"Corona Rothsay! why do you treat our visitor with such unladylike
+rudeness?"
+
+Cora, brought roughly out of her sad reverie, gazed at the old man
+vaguely. She scarcely heard his question, and certainly did not
+understand it.
+
+"Father," ventured Mr. Clarence, "I do not believe Cora could treat any
+one with rudeness, and surely she could never be unladylike. But you see
+she is absent-minded."
+
+"Hold your tongue, sir! How dare you interfere?" sternly exclaimed the
+despot. "But I see how it is," he added, with the savage satisfaction of
+a man who has power to crush and means to do it--"I see how it is! That
+oppressed woman will never be treated by either of you with proper
+respect until I give her my name and make her my wife and the mistress
+of my house."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+IN THE WEB.
+
+
+"Yes, sir and madam, you may stare; but I mean to place my guest in a
+position from which she can command due honor. I mean to give her my
+name and make her the mistress of my house," said old Aaron Rockharrt;
+and he leaned back in his chair and drew himself up.
+
+Had a thunderbolt fallen among them, it could hardly have caused greater
+consternation.
+
+The shock was more effective because both his hearers knew full well
+that old Aaron Rockharrt never used vain threats, and that he would do
+exactly what he said he would do. Having said that he meant to marry the
+unwelcome guest, he would marry her.
+
+But what unutterable amazement fell upon the two people! Both had felt a
+vague dread of evil from the presence of this siren in the house; but
+their darkest, wildest fears had never shadowed forth this unspeakable
+folly. The Iron King, a man of seventy-seven, strong, firm, upright,
+honored, to fall into the idiocy of marrying a beautiful adventuress
+merely because she waited on him, ran his errands, warmed his slippers,
+put on his dressing gown or his overcoat, as he would come in or go out,
+and generally made him comfortable; but above all perhaps, because she
+flattered his egotism without measure. And yet the Iron King was
+considered sane, and was sane on all other subjects.
+
+So thought Clarence and Cora as they gasped, glanced at the old man,
+gazed at each other, and then dropped their eyes in a sort of shame.
+
+Neither spoke or could speak.
+
+The dreadful silence was broken at last by Rose Stillwater, who burst
+into the room like a sunbeam into a cloud, and said with her childish
+eagerness:
+
+"I have got such a lovely piece of music. I ran out just now to look for
+it. I was not sure I could find it; but here it is. It may be called
+sacred music and suitable to the day, I hope. Here is the title.
+
+    "'Glad life lives on forever.'
+
+"Shall I play and sing for you, Mr. Rockharrt? Would you like me to do
+so, dear Cora? And you, Mr. Clarence?"
+
+"Certainly, my dear," promptly responded the Iron King.
+
+"As you please," coldly replied Cora.
+
+"I--yes--thank you; I think it would be very nice," foolishly observed
+Mr. Clarence, who was just now reduced to a state of imbecility by the
+stunning announcement of his father's intended marriage.
+
+But all three had spoken at the same time, so that Rose Stillwater heard
+but one voice clearly, and that was the Iron King's.
+
+Mr. Clarence, however, went and opened the piano for her. Then old Mr.
+Rockharrt arose, went to the instrument slowly and deliberately, put his
+youngest son aside, wheeled up the music stool, seated her and then--
+
+    "The monarch o'er the siren hung
+    And beat the measure as she sung,
+    And pressing closer and more near,
+    He whispered praises in her ear."
+
+"It is 'The Lion in Love,' of Æsop's fable. He will let her draw his
+teeth yet," said Mr. Clarence, in a low tone, quite drowned in the
+joyous swell of the music.
+
+"No, it is not. A man of his age does not fall in love, I feel sure. And
+she will never gain one advantage over him. He likes her society and her
+servitude and her flatteries. He will take them all, and more than all,
+if he can; but he will give nothing, nothing in return," murmured Cora.
+
+"But why does he give her this attention to-day? It is unusual."
+
+"To show us that he will do her honor; place her above us, as he said;
+but that will not outlast their wedding day, if indeed they marry."
+
+"They will marry unless something should happen to prevent them. I do
+wish Fabian was at home."
+
+"So do I, with all my heart."
+
+The glad bursts of music which had drowned their voices, slowly sank
+into soft and dreamy tones.
+
+Then Clarence and Corona ceased their whispered conversation.
+
+Soon the dinner bell rang and the family party went into the dining
+room.
+
+On Monday morning active preparations were commenced for their journey
+to New York. Not one more word was spoken about the marriage of June and
+January, nor could either Clarence or Corona judge by the manner of the
+ill sorted pair whether the subject had been mentioned between them.
+
+On Wednesday of that week Mr. Rockharrt, accompanied by Mrs. Stillwater
+and Mrs. Rothsay, left Rockhold for New York, leaving Mr. Clarence in
+charge of the works at North End.
+
+They went straight through without, as before, stopping overnight at
+Baltimore. Consequently they reached New York on Thursday noon.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt telegraphed to the Cozzens Hotel at West Point to secure a
+suite of rooms, and then he took his own party to the Blank House.
+
+When they were comfortably installed in their apartments and had had
+dinner, he said to his companions:
+
+"I have business which may detain me in the city for several days. We
+need not, however, put in an appearance at the Military Academy before
+Monday morning. Meanwhile you two may amuse yourselves as you please,
+but must not look to me to escort you anywhere. Here are fine stores,
+art galleries, parks, matinees and what not, where women may be trusted
+alone;" and having laid down the law, his majesty marched off to bed,
+leaving the two young widows to themselves, in the private parlor of
+their suite.
+
+They also retired to the double-bedded chamber, which, to Cora's
+annoyance, had been engaged for their joint occupancy. She detested to
+be brought into such close intimacy with Rose Stillwater, and longed for
+the hour of her brother's release from the academy, and his appointment
+to some post of duty, however distant, where she might join him, and so
+escape the humiliation of her present position. However, she tried to
+bear the mortification as best she might, thankful that she and her
+unwelcome chum, while occupying the same chamber, were not obliged to
+sleep in the same bed.
+
+Truly, Rose Stillwater felt how unpleasant her companionship was to her
+former pupil, but she showed no consciousness of this. She comported
+herself with great discretion--not forcing conversation on her unwilling
+room mate, lest she should give offense; and it was the policy of this
+woman to "avoid offenses," nor yet did she keep total silence, lest she
+should seem to be sulky; for it was also her policy always to seem
+amiable and happy. So, though Cora never voluntarily addressed one word
+to her, yet Rose occasionally spoke sweetly some commonplace about the
+weather, their room, the bill of fare at dinner, and so on; to all of
+which observations she received brief replies.
+
+Both were relieved when they were in their separate beds and the gas was
+turned off--Rose that she need act a difficult part no more that night,
+but could lie down, and, under the cover of the darkness, gather her
+features in a cloud of wrath, and silently curse Corona Rothsay; Cora,
+that she was freed from the sight of the deceitful face and the sound of
+the lying tongue.
+
+Fatigued by their long journey, both soon fell asleep, and slept well,
+until the horrible sound of the gong awakened them--the gong in those
+days used to summon guests to the public breakfast table.
+
+Cora sprang out of bed with one fear--that her grandfather was up and
+waiting for his breakfast, though that gong had really nothing to do
+with any of their meals, which were always to be served in their private
+parlor.
+
+Cora and her room mate quickly dressed and went to the parlor, where
+they were relieved to find no Mr. Rockharrt and no table set.
+
+Presently, however, the Iron King strode into the room, a morning paper
+in his hand.
+
+"Breakfast not ready yet?" he sharply demanded, looking at Corona.
+
+Then she suddenly remembered that whenever they had traveled before this
+time, her grandmother had ordered the meals, as she had done everything
+else that she could do to save her tyrant trouble.
+
+"I--suppose so, sir. Shall I ring for it?" she inquired.
+
+"Let me! Let me! Oh, please let me wait on you!" exclaimed Rose, as she
+sprang up, ran across the room, and rang a peal on the bell.
+
+The waiter came.
+
+"Will you also order the breakfast, Mrs. Stillwater, if such is your
+pleasure?" inquired Cora, who could not help this little bit of ill
+humor.
+
+"Certainly I will, my dear, if you like!" said the imperturbable Rose,
+who was resolved never to understand sarcasm, and never to take
+offense--"Waiter, bring me a bill of fare."
+
+The waiter went out to do his errand.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt glared sternly at his granddaughter; but his fire
+did not strike his intended victim, for Cora had her back turned and was
+looking out of the window.
+
+The waiter came in with the breakfast bill of fare.
+
+"Will you listen, Mr. Rockharrt, and you, dear Cora, and tell me what to
+mark, as I read out the items," said Rose, sweetly, as she took the card
+from the hands of the man.
+
+"Thank you, I want nothing especially," answered Cora.
+
+"Read on, my dear. I will tell you what to mark, and you must be sure
+also to mark any dish that you yourself may fancy," said Mr. Rockharrt,
+speaking very kindly to Rose, but glaring ferociously toward Cora.
+
+Rose read slowly, pausing at each item. Mr. Rockharrt named his favorite
+dishes, Rose marked them, and the order was given to the waiter, who
+took it away.
+
+Breakfast was soon served, and a most disagreeable meal it must have
+been but for Rose Stillwater's invincible good humor. She chatted gayly
+through the whole meal, perfectly resolved to ignore the cloud that was
+between the grandfather and the granddaughter.
+
+As soon as they arose from the table old Aaron Rockharrt ordered a
+carriage to take him down to Wall Street, on some business connected
+with his last great speculation, which was all that his granddaughter
+knew.
+
+Before leaving the hotel, he launched this bitter insult at Cora,
+through their guest:
+
+"My dear," he said to Mrs. Stillwater, as he drew on his gloves, "I must
+leave my granddaughter under your charge. I beg that you will look after
+her. She really seeds the supervision of a governess quite as much now
+as she did years ago when you had the training of her."
+
+Corona's wrath flamed up. A scathing sarcasm was on her lips. She
+turned.
+
+But no. She could not resent the insult of so aged a man; even if he had
+not been her grandfather.
+
+Rose Stillwater said never a word. It was not--it would not have been
+prudent to speak. To treat the matter as a jest would have offended the
+Iron King; to have taken it seriously would most justly and unpardonably
+have offended Corona Rothsay. Truly, Rose found that "Jordan am a hard
+road to trabbel!" And here at least was an apt application of the old
+proverb:
+
+"Speech is silver, silence is golden." So Rose said never a word, but
+looked from one to the other, smiling divinely on each in turn.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt having discharged his shot, went down stairs,
+entered his carriage and drove to Wall Street.
+
+Corona went to her room, or to the room she jointly occupied with Mrs.
+Stillwater, wishing from the depths of her heart that she could get
+entirely away from the sight and hearing of the woman who grew more
+repugnant to her feelings every day. At one time Cora thought that she
+would call a carriage, drive to the Hudson River railway station, and
+take the train for West Point, there to remain during the exercises of
+the academy. She was very strongly tempted to do this; but she resisted
+the impulse. She would not bring matters to a crisis by making a scene.
+So the idea of escaping to West Point was abandoned. Next she thought of
+taking a carriage and driving out to Harlem alone; but then she
+remembered that the woman Stillwater was, after all, her guest, so long
+as she herself was mistress, if only in name, of her grandfather's
+house; she could not leave her alone for the whole day; and so the idea
+of evading the creature's company by driving out alone was also given
+up.
+
+Truly, Cora was bound to the rack with cords of conventionality as fine
+as cobwebs, yet as strong as ropes.
+
+She did nothing but sit still in her chamber and brood; dreading the
+entrance of her abhorrent room-mate every moment.
+
+But Rose Stillwater--who read Cora Rothsay's thoughts as easily as she
+could read a familiar book--acted with her usual discretion. As long as
+Cora chose to remain in their joint chamber, Rose forbore to exercise
+her own right of entering it.
+
+Not until the afternoon did Corona come out into the parlor. Then she
+found Rose seated at the window, watching the busy scene on the Broadway
+pavement below, the hurried promenaders jostling as they passed each
+other on going up and coming down; the street peddlers, the walking
+advertisements, and all other sights never noticed by a citizen of the
+town, but looked at with curiosity by a stranger from the country.
+
+Rose turned as Corona entered, and ignoring all reserve, said sweetly:
+
+"I hope you have been resting, dear, and that you feel refreshed. Shall
+I ring and order luncheon? I wish to do all I can, dear, to prove my
+appreciation of all the kindness shown me; yet not to be officious."
+
+Now, how could Cora repulse the advances of so very good humored a
+woman? She believed her to be false and designing. She longed with all
+her heart and soul to be rid of the woman and her insidious influence.
+Yet she could not hear that sweet voice, those meek words, or meet those
+soft blue eyes, and maintain her manner of freezing politeness.
+
+"If you please," she answered, gently, and then said to herself:
+"Heavens! what a hypocrite this unwillingness to hurt the woman's
+feelings does make me!"
+
+Rose rang the bell and ordered the luncheon.
+
+They sat down in apparent amity to partake of it.
+
+The afternoon waned and evening came, but brought no Iron King back to
+the hotel.
+
+"Have you any idea at what hour Mr. Rockharrt will return, dear?"
+inquired Mrs. Stillwater, in her most dulcet tones.
+
+"Not the slightest."
+
+"I think he said something about going down to Wall Street to see after
+the forming of a syndicate in connection with his grand speculation.
+What is a syndicate, dear?"
+
+"I don't know--it may be an agency or a company--"
+
+"Or it may be something connected with the building of the new
+synagogue, which it is said is to be constructed of iron."
+
+Cora was surprised into the first laugh she had had in two years. But
+the mirth was very short-lived. It came and passed in an instant, and
+then a pang of remorse seized her heart that she could have laughed at
+all. She was thinking of her lost Rule, and of her own guilty share in
+his tragic fate. If she had not let her fancy and imagination become so
+dazzled by the rank and splendor of the British suitor as to blind her
+heart and mind for a season, as to make her think and believe that she
+really loved this new man, and that she had never loved, and could never
+love, Ruth Rothsay, though she must keep her engagement with him and
+marry him--had she not broken down and given way to her emotions on that
+fatal evening of their wedding day--then Rule would never have made his
+great renunciation for her sake--would never have wandered away into the
+wilderness to meet his death from murderous hands. How could she ever
+laugh again? she asked herself.
+
+"What is the matter with you, dear?" inquired Rose, surprised at the
+sudden change in Cora.
+
+But before she could be answered the door opened and old Aaron Rockharrt
+came in, looking weary and careworn.
+
+"How have you amused yourselves to-day?" he inquired of the two young
+women.
+
+Cora was slow to speak, but Rose answered discreetly:
+
+"I do not think we either of us did much but loll around and rest from
+our journey."
+
+"Not been out?"
+
+"No; I did not care to do so; nor did Cora, I believe."
+
+Dinner was served. Afterward the evening passed stupidly.
+
+Aaron Rockharrt sat in the large arm chair and slept. Cora, looking at
+him, thought he was aging fast.
+
+As soon as he waked up he bade his companions good night and went to his
+apartment. The two others soon followed his example.
+
+As this day passed, so passed the succeeding days of their sojourn in
+the city.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt went out every morning on business connected with that
+great scheme which was going to quadruple his already enormous wealth.
+He came home every evening quite worn out, and after dinner sat and
+dozed in his chair until bedtime.
+
+Cora watched him anxiously and wondered at him. He was aging fast. She
+could see that in his whole appearance. But what a strange infatuation
+for a man of seventy-seven, possessed already of almost fabulous wealth,
+to be as hotly in pursuit of money as if he were some poor youth with
+his fortune still to make! And what, after all, could he do with so much
+more money? Why could he not retire on his vast riches, and rest from
+his labors, leaving his two stalwart sons to carry on his business, and
+so live longer? Cora mournfully asked herself.
+
+On Sunday a strange thing happened. Old Aaron Rockharrt announced at the
+breakfast table his intention of going to a certain church to hear a
+celebrated preacher, whose piety, eloquence and enthusiasm was the
+subject of general discussion; and he invited the two ladies to go with
+him. Both consented--Cora because she never willingly absented herself
+from public worship on the Sabbath; Rose because it was her cue to be
+amiable and to agree to everything that was proposed.
+
+"We need not take a carriage. The church is only two blocks off," said
+Mr. Rockharrt, as he arose from the table.
+
+The party was soon ready, and while the bell was still ringing, they set
+out to walk. As they reached the sacred edifice the bell ceased ringing
+and the organ pealed forth in a grand voluntary.
+
+"You see we are but just in time," said Mr. Rockharrt, as he led his
+party into the building.
+
+The polite sexton conducted the strangers up the center aisle and put
+them into a good pew. The church was not full, but was filling rapidly.
+Our party bowed their heads for the preliminary private prayer, and so
+did not see the great preacher as he entered and stood at the reading
+desk. He was an English dean of great celebrity as a pulpit orator, now
+on a visit to the United States, and preaching in turn in every pulpit
+of his denomination as he passed. He was a man of about sixty-five,
+tall, thin, with a bald head, a narrow face, an aquiline nose, blue eyes
+and a gray beard. He began to read the opening texts of the service.
+
+"'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
+not in us.'"
+
+At the sound of his voice Rose Stillwater started violently, looked up
+and grew ghastly white. She dropped her face in her hands on the
+cushioned edge of the pew before her, and so sat trembling through the
+reading of the texts and the exhortations. Afterward followed the
+ritualistic general confession and prayer, during which all knelt.
+
+When at the close all arose Mrs. Stillwater was gone from her seat. Mr.
+Rockharrt looked around him and then stared at Cora, who very slightly
+shook her head, as if to say:
+
+"No; I know no more about it than you."
+
+How swiftly and silently Rose Stillwater had left the pew and slipped
+out of the church while all the congregation were bowed in prayer!
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt looked puzzled and troubled, but the minister was
+pronouncing the general absolution that followed the general confession,
+and such a severe martinet and disciplinarian as old Aaron Rockharrt
+would on no account fail in attention to the speaker.
+
+Nor did he change countenance again during the long morning service.
+
+At its close he drew Cora's arm within his own and led her out of the
+church.
+
+As they walked down Broadway he inquired:
+
+"Why did Mrs. Stillwater leave the church?"
+
+"I do not know," answered his granddaughter.
+
+"Was she ill?"
+
+"I really do not know."
+
+"When did she go?"
+
+"I do not know that either, except that she must have slipped out while
+we were at prayers."
+
+"You seem to be a perfect know-nothing, Cora."
+
+"On this subject I certainly am. I did not perceive Mrs. Stillwater's
+absence until we rose from our knees."
+
+"Well, we shall find her at the hotel, I suppose, and then we shall know
+all about it."
+
+By this time they had reached the Blank House.
+
+They entered and went up into their parlor.
+
+Rose was not there.
+
+"Bless my soul, I hope the poor child is not ill. Go, Cora, and see if
+she is in her room, and find out what is the matter with her," said old
+Aaron Rockharrt, as he dropped wearily into the big arm chair.
+
+Cora had just come from church, from hearing an eloquent sermon on
+Christian charity, so she was in one of her very best moods.
+
+She went at once into the bedroom occupied jointly by herself and her
+traveling companion. She found Rose in a wrapper, with her hair down,
+lying on the outside of her bed.
+
+"Are you not well?" she inquired in a gentle tone.
+
+"No, dear; I have a very severe neuralgic headache. It takes all my
+strength of mind and nerve to keep me from screaming under the pain,"
+answered Rose, in a faint and faltering voice.
+
+"I am very sorry."
+
+"It struck me--in the church--with the suddenness of a bullet--shot
+through my brain."
+
+"Indeed, I am very, very sorry. You should have told me. I would have
+come out with you."
+
+"No, dear. I did not--wish to disturb--anybody. I slipped out
+noiselessly--while all were kneeling. No one heard me--no one saw me
+except the sexton--who opened--the swing doors--silently to let me
+pass."
+
+"You should not have attempted to walk home alone in such a condition.
+It was not safe. But I am talking to you, when I should be aiding you,"
+said Cora; and she went to her dressing case and took from it a certain
+family specific for neuralgic headaches which had been in great favor
+with her grandmother. This she poured into a glass, added a little
+water, and brought to the sufferer.
+
+"Put it on the stand by the bed, dear. I will take it presently. Thank
+you very much, dear Cora. Now will you please close all the shutters and
+make the room as dark as a vault--and shut me up in it--I shall go to
+sleep--and wake up relieved. The pain goes as suddenly as it comes,
+dear," said Rose, still in a faint, faltering and hesitating voice.
+
+Cora did all her bidding, put the tassel of the bell cord in her reach,
+and softly left the room.
+
+The chamber was not as dark as a vault, however. Enough of light came
+through the slats of the shutters and the white lace curtains to enable
+Rose to rise, take the medicine from the stand, cross the floor and pour
+it in the wash basin, under a spigot. Then she turned on the water to
+wash it down the drain. Then she turned off the water and went back to
+bed--not to sleep--for she had too much need to think.
+
+Had the minister in that pulpit recognized her, as she had certainly
+recognized him? She hoped not. She believed not. As soon as she had
+heard the voice--the voice that had been silent for her so many
+years--she had impulsively looked up. And she had seen him! A specter
+from the past--a specter from the grave! But his eyes were fixed upon
+the book from which he was reading, and she quickly dropped her head
+before he could raise them. No; he had not seen her. But oh! if she had
+heard his name before she had gone to hear him preach, nothing on earth
+would ever have induced her to go into the church. But she had not heard
+his name at all. She had heard of him only as the Dean of Olivet. He was
+not a dean in those far-off days when she saw him last; only a poor
+curate of whose stinted household she had grown sick and tired. But he
+was now Dean of Olivet! He had come to make a tour of the United States.
+Should she have the mischance to meet him again? Would he go up to West
+Point for the exercises at the military academy? But of course he
+would! It was so convenient to do so. West Point was so near and easy to
+see. The trip up the Hudson was so delightful at this season of the
+year. And the dean was bound to see everything worth seeing. And what
+was better worth seeing by a foreigner than the exercises at our
+celebrated military academy? What should she do to avoid meeting, face
+to face, this terrible phantom from the grave of her dead past?
+
+She could make no excuse for remaining in New York while her party went
+up to West Point--make no excuse, that is, which would not also make
+trouble. And it was her policy never to do that. She thought and thought
+until she had nearly given herself the headache which before she had
+only feigned. At length she decided on this course: To go to West Point
+with her party, and as soon as they should arrive to get up a return of
+her neuralgic headache, as her excuse for keeping her room at the hotel
+and absenting herself from the exercises at the academy.
+
+As soon as she had formed this resolution she got up, opened one of the
+windows, washed and dressed herself and went out into the parlor.
+
+She entered softly.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt was sound asleep in his big arm chair.
+
+Cora was seated at the table engaged in reading. She arose to receive
+the invalid.
+
+"Are you better? Are you sure you are able to be up?" she kindly
+inquired.
+
+"Oh, yes, dear! Very much better! Well, indeed! When it goes, it goes,
+you know! But had we better not talk and disturb Mr. Rockharrt?"
+inquired Rose.
+
+"We cannot disturb him. He sleeps very soundly--too soundly, I think,
+and too much."
+
+"Do you know by what train we go to West Point to-morrow?"
+
+"By the 7:30 a.m. So that we may arrive in good time for the
+commencement. We must retire very early to-night, for we must be up
+betimes in the morning. But sit down; you really look very languid,"
+said Cora, and taking the hand of her companion, she led her to the sofa
+and made her recline upon it. Then Cora resumed her own seat.
+
+"Thank you, darling," cooed Rose.
+
+There was silence in the room for a few moments. Mr. Rockharrt slept on.
+Cora took up her book. Rose was the first to speak.
+
+"I wonder if the new lion, the Dean of Olivet, will go to West Point
+to-morrow," she said in a tone of seeming indifference.
+
+"Oh, yes! It is in all the papers. He is to be the guest of the
+chaplain," replied Cora.
+
+"I wonder what train he will go by."
+
+"Oh, I don't know that. He may go by the night boat."
+
+"The Dean of Olivet would never travel on Sunday night."
+
+"But he might hold service and preach on the boat."
+
+"Oh, yes; so he might."
+
+"What on earth are you talking about? When will dinner be ready?"
+demanded old Aaron Rockharrt, waking up from his nap. Straightening
+himself up and looking around, he saw Rose Stillwater.
+
+"Oh, my dear, are you better of your headache?"
+
+"Yes, thank you, Mr. Rockharrt."
+
+"You look pale, as if you had gone through a sharp siege, if a short
+one. You should have told me in the pew, and allowed me to take you
+here, not ventured out alone, when you were in such pain."
+
+"But I did not wish to attract the least attention, so I slipped out
+unperceived while everybody's heads were bent in prayer."
+
+"All very well, my dear; but pray don't venture on such a step again. I
+am always at your service to attend you. Now, Cora, ring for dinner to
+be served. It was ordered for five o'clock, I think, and it is five
+minutes past," said Mr. Rockharrt, consulting his watch.
+
+Cora arose, but before she could reach the bell, the door was opened,
+and the waiter appeared to lay the cloth.
+
+After dinner the Iron King went into a little room attached to the
+suite, which he used as a smoking den.
+
+The two young women settled themselves to read.
+
+They all retired at nine o'clock that night so as to rise very early
+next day.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XV.
+
+AT THE ACADEMY.
+
+
+It was a splendid May morning. Our travelers were out of bed at
+half-past four o'clock. The sun was just rising when they sat down to
+their early breakfast.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt seemed stronger and brighter than he had been since his
+arrival in New York.
+
+The Sabbath day's complete rest had certainly refreshed him.
+
+Immediately after breakfast they left the hotel, entered the carriage
+which had been engaged for them and drove to the Hudson River depot.
+
+"There's the dean!" exclaimed Mr. Rockharrt, as they entered the waiting
+room. "He must be going on the same train with us."
+
+Rose Stillwater did not start or change color this time. She had
+prepared herself for contingencies by taking a dose of morphine just
+before she left the hotel. But she drew her veil closely over her face,
+murmuring that the brightness of the sun hurt her eyes.
+
+Cora looked up and saw the tall, thin form of the church dignitary
+standing with a group of gentlemen near the gate leading to the train.
+
+The waiting room was crowded; a multitude was moving toward West Point.
+
+"It is well I engaged our rooms a week ago, or we might not have found
+accommodations," said Mr. Rockharrt, as he pressed with his party behind
+the crowd.
+
+Among the group of gentlemen surrounding the dean, was a Wall Street
+broker with whom old Aaron Rockharrt had been doing business for the
+last few days.
+
+This man was standing beside the dean, and both stood immediately in
+front of Mr. Rockharrt and his party.
+
+Presently the broker turned and saw the Iron King.
+
+"Oh, Mr. Rockharrt. Happy to meet you here. Going to the Point, as
+everybody else is? Fine day."
+
+"Yes; a fine day," responded the Iron King.
+
+At this moment the dean happened to turn his head.
+
+"You know the Dean of Olivet, of course, Mr. Rockharrt?"
+
+"No; I have not that pleasure."
+
+"Let me present you. Dean of Olivet, Mr. Rockharrt."
+
+Both gentlemen bowed.
+
+The Iron King held out his hand.
+
+"Happy to welcome you to America, Dean. Went to hear you preach
+yesterday morning. One of the finest sermons I ever heard in my life, I
+do assure you."
+
+The dean bowed very gravely.
+
+"Let me present you to my granddaughter, Mrs. Rothsay," said the old
+man.
+
+The dean bowed gravely to the young lady, who bent her head.
+
+"And to our friend, Mrs. Stillwater," continued the old gentleman,
+waving his hand again. "Why, where is she? Why, Cora, where is Mrs.
+Stillwater?" demanded the Iron King in amazement.
+
+"I do not know. I have just missed her," said the young lady.
+
+"Well, upon my soul! For the power of vanishing she excels all living
+creatures. Pray, Cora, does she carry a fairy cap in her pocket, and put
+it on when she wishes to make herself invisible?"
+
+"I think, sir, that she has been pressed away from us in the crowd. We
+shall find her when we get through the gate into more space."
+
+"Well, I hope so."
+
+"She is quite able to take care of herself, sir. Pray do not be alarmed.
+She will be sure to find us."
+
+"Well, I hope so. Yes; of course she will."
+
+At this moment the gates were opened.
+
+"Take my arm. Don't let me lose you in the crowd. I suppose Mrs.
+Stillwater cannot fail to join us. Oh! of course not! She knows the
+train, and there is but one."
+
+He drew Cora's hand close under his arm, and holding it tightly,
+followed the multitude through the gate, looking all around in search of
+Rose Stillwater.
+
+But she was nowhere to be seen.
+
+"She may have gotten ahead of us, and be on the train. Come on!" said
+Mr. Rockharrt, as he hurried his granddaughter along and pushed her upon
+the platform.
+
+The cars were rapidly filling.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt seized upon four seats, in order to secure three. He put
+Cora in one and told her to put her traveling bag on the other, to hold
+it for Mrs. Stillwater. Then he took possession of the seat in front of
+her.
+
+"As soon as this crowd settles itself down and leaves something like a
+free passageway, I will go through the train and find Mrs. Stillwater.
+She is bound to be on board. She is no baby to lose herself," said Mr.
+Rockharrt, and though his words were confident, his tone seemed anxious.
+
+The people all got seated at last and the long train moved.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt left his seat, and stooping over his granddaughter, he
+whispered:
+
+"I am going now to look for Mrs. Stillwater and fetch her here."
+
+He passed slowly down the car, looking from side to side, and then out
+through the back door to the rear cars, and so out of Cora's sight.
+
+He was gone about fifteen minutes. At the end of that time he
+reappeared, and came up the car and stopped to speak to Cora: "She is
+not in any of the rear cars. I am going forward to look for her. This
+comes of traveling in a crowd."
+
+He went on as before, looking carefully from side to side, passed out of
+the front door and again out of Cora's sight. This time he was gone
+twenty minutes. When he come back his face wore an expression of the
+greatest anxiety.
+
+"She is not on the train. She has been left behind! Foolish woman, to
+let herself be separated from us in this stupid way!" testily exclaimed
+the Iron King, as he dropped himself heavily into his seat.
+
+"What can be done?" exclaimed Cora, now seriously uneasy about her
+unwelcome companion, because she feared that Rose might have been seized
+with one of her sharp and sudden headaches and had stepped away from
+them as she had done in the church.
+
+"I hope she has had the presence of mind, on finding herself left, to
+return to the hotel and wait for the next train. This is the express,
+and does not stop until we reach Garrison's. But when we get there I
+will telegraph to her and tell her what train to take. It is all an
+infernal nuisance--this being jostled about by a crowd."
+
+Cora was consulting a time table. She looked up from it and said:
+
+"It will all come right, sir. There is another train at half-past eight.
+If she should take that, she will reach West Point in full time for the
+opening of the exercises. We started unnecessarily early."
+
+"I always take time by the forelock, Cora. That habit is one of the
+factors of my success in life."
+
+The express train flew on, and in due time reached Garrison's, opposite
+West Point. The ferry boat was waiting for the train. As soon as it
+stopped, Mr. Rockharrt handed his granddaughter out. The other
+passengers followed, and made a rush for the boat.
+
+"Let it go, Cora. We must take time to telegraph to Mrs. Stillwater, and
+we can wait for the next trip," said Mr. Rockharrt, still keeping a firm
+grip on his granddaughter's arm, lest through woman's inherent stupidity
+she should also lose herself, as he marched her off to the telegraph
+window of the station.
+
+The telegram, a very long-winded one, was sent. Then they sat down to
+wait for the coming boat, which crossed the going one about midstream,
+and approached rapidly.
+
+In a few minutes they were on board and steaming across the river.
+
+They reached the opposite bank, and Mr. Rockharrt led his granddaughter
+out, and placed her in the carriage he had engaged by telegraph to meet
+them, for carriages would be in very great demand, he knew.
+
+They drove up to the hotel in which he had taken rooms. Here they went
+into their parlor to rest and to wait for an answer to the telegram.
+
+"It is no use going over to the academy now. We could not get sight of
+Sylvan. The rules and regulations of the military school are as strict
+and immutable as the laws of the Medes and Persians," said old Aaron
+Rockharrt, as he dropped heavily into a great armchair, leaned back and
+presently fell asleep.
+
+Cora never liked to see him fall into these sudden deep slumbers. She
+feared that they were signs of physical decay.
+
+She sat at a front window, which, from the elevated point upon which the
+hotel stood, looked down upon the brilliant scene below, where crowds of
+handsomely dressed ladies were walking about the beautiful grounds. She
+sat watching them some time, and until she saw the tide of strollers
+turning from all points, and setting in one direction--toward the
+academy.
+
+Then she glanced at her grandfather. Oh! how old and worn he looked when
+he lost control of himself in sleep. She touched him lightly. He opened
+his eyes.
+
+"What is it? Has the telegram come from Mrs. Stillwater?" he inquired.
+
+"No, sir; but the visitors are pouring into the academy, and I am
+afraid, if we do not go over at once, we shall not be able to find a
+seat," said Cora.
+
+"Oh, yes, we shall. Strange we do not get an answer from Mrs.
+Stillwater," said the old man anxiously, as he slowly arose and began to
+draw on his gloves and looked for his hat.
+
+Cora went and found it and gave it to him.
+
+Then she put on her bonnet.
+
+Then they went down together, crossed the grounds, and entered the
+great hall, which was densely crowded. Good seats had been reserved for
+them, and they found themselves seated next the Dean of Olivet on Cora's
+right and the Wall street broker on Mr. Rockharrt's left.
+
+I do not mean to trouble my readers with any description of this by-gone
+exhibition. They can read a full account of such every season in every
+morning paper. Merely to say that it was late in the afternoon when the
+exercises were over for the day.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt and Cora Rothsay returned to the hotel to a very late
+dinner.
+
+The first question that the Iron King asked was whether any telegram had
+come for him. He was told that there was none.
+
+"It is very strange. She could not have received mine," he said, and he
+went directly to the telegraph office of the hotel and dispatched a long
+message to the clerk of the Blank House, telling him of how Mrs.
+Stillwater had been separated from her party by the pressure of the
+crowd, and how she had thereby missed their train, and inquiring whether
+she had returned to the hotel, whether she had got his message, and if
+she were well. Any news of her, or from her, was anxiously expected by
+her friends.
+
+Having sent off this dispatch, Mr. Rockharrt went in to dinner. The
+dinner was long. The courses were many. Mr. Rockharrt and his
+granddaughter were still at table when the following telegram was placed
+in his hands:
+
+    BLANK HOUSE, New York, May, 18--
+
+    Mrs. Stillwater is not here, and has not been seen by any of our
+    people since she left the house with your party for the Hudson
+    River Railway depot. We have made inquiries, but have no news.
+
+    M. MARTIN.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVI.
+
+THE SEARCH.
+
+
+"This is intolerable," muttered old Aaron Rockharrt, in a tone as who
+should say: "How dare Fate set herself to baffle ME?"
+
+He then took tablets and pencil from his pocket and wrote the following
+telegram:
+
+    COZZENS HOTEL, WEST POINT,
+    May ----, 18--
+
+    To M. MARTIN, ESQ., Blank House, New York City:
+
+    Just received your dispatch. There has been foul play. Report the
+    case at police headquarters. Set private detective on the track of
+    the missing lady. Last seen at the gate of the Hudson River
+    Railway depot, waiting for 7:30 a.m. train for West Point
+    yesterday morning, but not seen on train. Give me prompt notice of
+    any news.
+
+    AARON ROCKHARRT.
+
+He beckoned a waiter and sent the message to be dispatched from the
+office of the hotel.
+
+Then he set himself to finish his dinner.
+
+After dinner he went out on the piazza.
+
+Cora followed him. There was quite a number of people out there, seeing
+whom, he walked out upon the open grounds.
+
+"May I come with you, grandfather?" inquired Cora.
+
+"If you like," was the short answer.
+
+As they walked on he said:
+
+"I think it possible that Mrs. Stillwater, after missing our train, left
+for North End."
+
+"Yes, it is possible," assented Cora.
+
+No more was said. They walked on for half an hour and then returned to
+the hotel and bade each other good night.
+
+The next morning they met in the parlor.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt was reading a New York morning paper. Cora went up
+and bade him good morning.
+
+He merely nodded and went on reading. Presently he burst out with:
+
+"By ----! This must be Mrs. Stillwater!"
+
+"Who? What?" eagerly inquired Cora, going to his side.
+
+"Here! Read!" exclaimed the Iron King, handing her the sheet and
+pointing out the paragraph.
+
+Cora took the paper with trembling hands and read as follows:
+
+    "A MYSTERY.--Yesterday morning at six o'clock an unknown
+    young woman of about twenty-five or thirty years of age, of medium
+    height, plump form, fair complexion and yellow hair, clothed in a
+    rich suit of widow's mourning, was found in a state of coma in the
+    ladies' dressing room of the Hudson River Railway station. She was
+    taken to St. L----'s Hospital. There was nothing on her person to
+    reveal her name or address."
+
+"That must have been Mrs. Stillwater," said old Aaron Rockharrt.
+
+"I think there is no question of it," replied Cora.
+
+"No doubt the poor child was suddenly seized with one of her terrible
+neuralgic headaches, caused by the pressure of that infernal crowd at
+the gate, and she stole away, as before, lest she should disturb us and
+prevent our journey; the most self-sacrificing creature I ever met. No
+doubt she meant to telegraph to us, but was prevented by the sudden
+reaction from agony to stupor. Ah! I hope it is not a fatal stupor."
+
+"I hope not, sir."
+
+"Cora!"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"We must leave for New York by the next train. If Sylvanus is not free
+to go with us, he can follow us. Come, let us go down and get some
+breakfast."
+
+Cora arose and went with her grandfather down to the breakfast room.
+
+When they had taken their places at one of the tables and given their
+orders to one of the waiters, old Aaron Rockharrt drew a time table from
+his pocket and consulted it.
+
+"There is a down train stops at Garrison's at 10:50. We will take that."
+
+As soon as they had breakfasted, and as they were leaving the table,
+another telegram was handed to Mr. Rockharrt. He opened it and read as
+follows:
+
+    BLANK HOUSE, New York, May ----, 18--
+
+    The missing lady is in St. L----'s Hospital.
+
+    M. MARTIN.
+
+"It is true, then! true as we surmised. Mrs. Stillwater was the unknown
+lady found unconscious in the dressing room of the Hudson River Railroad
+and taken to St. L----'s. Cora!"
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Go and pack our effects immedately. I will go down and settle the bill
+and leave a letter of explanation for Sylvanus. Get your bonnet on and
+be ready. The carriage will be at the door in twenty minutes."
+
+Cora hurried off to her room and to her grandfather's room, which
+adjoined hers, to prepare for the sudden journey. She quickly packed and
+labeled their traveling bags, and rang for a porter to take them down
+stairs.
+
+Then she put on her bonnet and duster and went down and joined her
+grandfather in the parlor.
+
+"Come," he said, "the carriage is at the door and our traps on the box.
+I have written to Sylvanus, telling him to join us at the Blank House,
+where we will wait for him."
+
+He turned abruptly and went out, followed by Cora.
+
+They entered the waiting carriage and were rapidly driven down to the
+ferry.
+
+The boat was at the wharf. They alighted from the carriage and went on
+board.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt's hot haste did not avail them much. The boat
+remained at the wharf for ten minutes, during which the Iron King
+secretly fumed and fretted.
+
+"Does this boat connect with the 10:50 train for New York?" he inquired.
+
+"Yes, sir," was the answer.
+
+"Then you will miss it."
+
+"Oh, no, sir."
+
+The five remaining minutes seemed hours, but they passed at length and
+the boat left the shore, and old Aaron Rockharrt walked up and down the
+deck impatiently.
+
+As they neared the other side the whistle of a down train was heard
+approaching.
+
+"There! I said you would miss it!" exclaimed the Iron King.
+
+"That train does not stop here, sir," was the good humored answer.
+
+The boat touched the wharf at Garrison's, and the passengers got off.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt led his granddaughter up to the platform to wait for
+the train; but no train was in sight or hearing.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt looked at his watch.
+
+"After all, we have seven minutes to wait," he growled, as if time and
+tide were much in fault at not being at his beck and call.
+
+"Had we not better go into the waiting room?" suggested Cora.
+
+"No, we will stand here," replied the Iron King, who on general
+principles never acted upon a suggestion.
+
+So there they stood--the old man growling at intervals as he looked up
+the road; Cora gazing out upon the fine scenery of river and mountain.
+
+Presently the whirr of the coming train was heard. In a minute more it
+rushed into the station and stopped. There were no other down passengers
+except Mr. Rockharrt and Mrs. Rothsay.
+
+He handed her up, and took her to a seat. The car was not half full. The
+tide of travel was northward, not southward at this season.
+
+They were scarcely seated when the train started again. They reached New
+York just before noon.
+
+"Carriage, sir? Carriage, ma'am? Carriage? Carriage? Carriage?" screamed
+a score of hackmen's voices, as the passengers came out on the sidewalk.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt beckoned the best-looking turnout and handed his
+granddaughter into it.
+
+"Drive to St. L----'s Hospital," he said.
+
+The hackman touched his hat and drove off. In less than fifteen minutes
+he drew up before the front of St. L----'s.
+
+The hackman jumped down, went up and rang the bell. Then he came back to
+the carriage and opened the door.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt got out, followed by his granddaughter.
+
+"Wait here!" he said to the hackman, as he went to the door, which was
+promptly opened by an attendant.
+
+"I wish to see the physician in charge here, or the head of the
+hospital, or whatever may be his official title," said the Iron King.
+
+"You mean the Rev. Dr. ----"
+
+"Yes, yes; take him my card."
+
+"Walk in the parlor, sir."
+
+The attendant conducted the party into a spacious, plainly furnished
+reception or waiting room, saw them seated, and then took away Mr.
+Rockharrt's card.
+
+A few minutes passed, and a tall, white haired, venerable form, clothed
+in a long black coat and a round skull cap, entered the room, looking
+from side to side for his visitor.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt got up and went to meet him.
+
+"Mr. Rockharrt, of North End?" courteously inquired the venerable man.
+
+"The same. Dr. ----, I presume."
+
+"Yes, sir. Pray be seated. And this lady?" inquired the venerable
+doctor, courteously turning toward Cora.
+
+"Oh--my granddaughter, Mrs. Rothsay."
+
+The aged man shook hands kindly with Cora, and then turned to Mr.
+Rockharrt, as if silently questioning his will.
+
+"I came to inquire about the lady who was found in an unconscious state
+at the Hudson River Railway depot. How is she?" The old man's anxiety
+betrayed itself even through his deliberate words.
+
+"She is better. You know the lady?"
+
+"More than know her--have been intimate with her for many years. She is
+our guest and traveling companion. She got separated from us in the
+crowd which was pressing through the railway gate to take the train
+yesterday morning. I surely thought when I missed her that she had found
+her way to some car. But it appears that she was seized with vertigo, or
+something, and so missed the train."
+
+"Yes; a lady, one of our regular visitors, found her there, by
+Providence, in a state of deep stupor, and being unable to discover her
+friends, or name, or address, put her in a carriage and brought her
+directly here."
+
+"She is better, you say? I wish to see her and take her back to our
+apartments," said Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+"I will send for one of the nurses to take you to her room. You will
+excuse me. I am momentarily expecting the Dean of Olivet, who is on a
+visit to our city, and comes to-day to go through the hospital," said
+the doctor, and he rang a bell.
+
+"The dean here? Why, I thought we left him at West Point," said Mr.
+Rockharrt.
+
+"He came down by a late train last night, I understand. He makes but a
+flying tour through the country, and cannot stay at any one place," the
+venerable doctor explained. And then he touched the bell again.
+
+The same man who had let our party in came to the door to answer the
+call.
+
+"Say to Sister Susannah that I would like to see her here," said the
+doctor.
+
+The man went out and was presently succeeded by a sweet faced, middle
+aged woman in a black dress and a neat white cap.
+
+"Here are the friends of the young lady who was brought in yesterday
+morning. Will you please to take them to the bedside of your patient?"
+
+The Protestant sister nodded pleasantly and led off the visitors.
+
+As they went up the main staircase they heard the front door bell ring,
+the door opened, and the Dean of Olivet, with some gentlemen in his
+company, entered the hall.
+
+Our party, after one glance, passed up the stairs, through an upper hall
+and a corridor, and paused before a door which Sister Susannah opened.
+
+They entered a small, clean, neat room, where, clothed in a white
+wrapper, reclining in a white easy chair, beside a white curtained
+window, and near a white bed, sat Rose Stillwater. She was looking, not
+only pale, but sallow--as she had never looked before.
+
+Rose Stillwater held out one hand to Mr. Rockharrt and one to Cora
+Rothsay, in silence and with a faint smile.
+
+The sister, seeing this recognition, set two cane bottomed chairs for
+the visitors and then went out, leaving them alone with the patient.
+
+"Good Lord, my dear, how did all this come about?" inquired old Aaron
+Rockharrt, as he sank heavily upon one of the chairs, making it creak
+under him.
+
+"It was while we stood in the crowd. I was pressed almost out of breath.
+Then the terrible pang shot through my head, and I ceased to struggle
+and let everybody pass before me. I dropped down on one of the benches.
+I had taken a morphia pellet before I left the hotel. I had the medicine
+in my pocket. I took another then--"
+
+"Very wrong, my dear. Very wrong, my dear, to meddle with that drug,
+without the advice of a physician."
+
+"Yes; I know it now, but I did not know it then. The second pellet
+stopped my headache, and I went to the ladies' dressing room to recover
+myself a little, so as to be able to write a telegram saying that I
+would follow you by the next train, but there a stupor came over me, and
+I knew no more until I awoke late last night and found myself here."
+
+"How perilous, my child! In that stupor you might have been robbed or
+kidnapped by persons who might have pretended to be your relations and
+carried you off and murdered you for your clothing," said old Aaron
+Rockharrt, unconscious in his native rudeness that he was frightening
+and torturing a very nervous invalid.
+
+"But," urged Rose--who had grown paler at the picture conjured
+up--"providentially I was found by the kind lady who sent or rather
+brought me here, and even caused me to be put in this room instead of in
+a ward. Sister Susannah explained this to me as soon as I was able to
+make inquiries."
+
+"Now, my dear, do you feel able to go back with us to the Blank House,
+where we are now again staying and waiting for Sylvanus to join us?"
+
+"Oh, yes; I shall be glad to go, though all here are most tender and
+affectionate to me. But I would like to see and thank the doctor for all
+his goodness. How like the ideal of the beloved apostle he seems to
+me--so mild, so tender, so reverend."
+
+"I think you cannot wait for that to-day, my dear. The reverend doctor
+is engaged with the Dean of Olivet, who is going through the hospital."
+
+Rose Stillwater's face blanched.
+
+"Will they--will they--will they--come into this room?"
+
+"Of course not! And if they should, you are up and in your chair. And if
+you were not, they are a party of ministers of the gospel and medical
+doctors, and you would not mind if they should see you in bed. You are a
+nervous child to be so easily alarmed. It is the effect of the reaction
+from your stupor," said Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+"I will go with you, however, if I may," said Rose Stillwater, touching
+the hand bell, that soon brought an attendant into the room.
+
+"Will you ask Sister Susannah, please, to come to me?" said Mrs.
+Stillwater.
+
+The attendant went out and was soon succeeded by the sister.
+
+"My friends wish to take me away, and I feel quite able to go with
+them--in a carriage. Will you please find the doctor and ask him?"
+inquired Mrs. Stillwater.
+
+The sister smiled assent and went out.
+
+Soon the venerable man entered the room.
+
+"I hope I find you better, my child," he said, coming to the easy chair
+in which sat and reclined the patient.
+
+"Very much better, thank you, sir; so much that I feel quite able to go
+out with my friends, if I may."
+
+"Certainly, my child, if you like."
+
+"I hope I have not detained you from your friends," said Rose.
+
+"No. I left the dean in conversation with an English patient from his
+old parish. It was an accidental meeting, but a most interesting one."
+
+"Does--the dean--contemplate a long stay in the city?" Rose forced
+herself to ask.
+
+"Oh, no; he leaves to-night by one of the Sound steamers for Boston and
+Newport. His English temperament feels the heat of the city even more
+than we do."
+
+Rose felt it in her heart to wish that the climate might "burn as an
+oven," if it should drive the British dean away.
+
+"But I must not leave my visitors longer. So if you will excuse me,
+sir," he said, turning to Mr. Rockharrt, "I will take leave of my
+patient and her friends here."
+
+He shook hands all around, receiving the warm thanks of the whole party.
+
+When the venerable doctor left the room, Mr. Rockharrt withdrew to the
+corridor to give the nurse an opportunity to dress the convalescent for
+her journey.
+
+He walked up and down the corridor for a few minutes, at the end of
+which Rose Stillwater came out dressed for her drive, and leaning on the
+arm of Cora Rothsay.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt hastened to meet her, and took her off Cora's hands, and
+drew her arm within his own.
+
+So they went down stairs and entered the carriage that was waiting for
+them.
+
+A drive of fifteen minutes brought them to the Blank House.
+
+"Grandfather," said Cora, as they alighted and went into the house, Rose
+leaning on Mr. Rockharrt's arm--"Grandfather, I think, now that the rush
+of travelers have passed northward, you may be able to get me another
+room. In Mrs. Stillwater's nervous condition it cannot be agreeable to
+her to have the disturbance of a room-mate."
+
+"What do you say, my child?" inquired Mr. Rockharrt of his guest.
+
+"Sweet Cora never could disturb me under any circumstances, but it
+cannot be good for her to room with such a nervous creature as I am just
+at present," replied Rose.
+
+"Umph! It appears to me that you two women wish to have separate rooms
+each only for the welfare of the other. Well, you shall have them. Take
+Mrs. Stillwater up stairs, Cora, while I step into the office," said Mr.
+Rockharrt.
+
+Cora drew the convalescent's arm within her own, and helped her to climb
+the easy flight of stairs, and took her into the parlor, where they were
+presently joined by the Iron King.
+
+"I have also engaged a private sitting room, so that we need not go down
+to the public table, and dinner will be laid for us there in a few
+minutes. You need not lay off your wraps until you go there; and if
+there is any special dish that you would particularly like, my dear, I
+hope you will order it at once. Come." And he offered his arm to Mrs.
+Stillwater, to whom, indeed, he had addressed all his remarks.
+
+He led her from the public parlor, followed by his granddaughter. The
+little sitting room which Mr. Rockharrt had been able to engage was just
+across the hall.
+
+On entering they found the table laid for a party of three.
+
+Neither Mr. Rockharrt nor Cora had broken fast since their early
+breakfast at West Point. The old gentleman was very hungry.
+
+Dinner was soon served, and two of the party did full justice to the
+good things set before them; but Rose Stillwater could touch nothing.
+She had not recovered her appetite since her overdose of morphia. In
+vain her host recommended this or that dish, for the more appetizing the
+flavor, the more she detested them.
+
+At last when dinner was over, Mr. Rockharrt recommended her to retire to
+rest. She readily took his advice and bade him good night.
+
+Cora volunteered to see their guest to her chamber.
+
+"You will look at both rooms, Mrs. Stillwater, and take your choice
+between them," she said, as she led the guest into the new chamber
+engaged for one of the ladies.
+
+"Oh, my dear Cora, I do not care where I drop myself down, so that I get
+rest and sleep. Oh, Cora! I have been so frightened! Suppose I had died
+in that opium sleep!" exclaimed Mrs. Stillwater, speaking frankly for at
+least once in her life.
+
+"You should not have tampered with such a dangerous drug," said Mrs.
+Rothsay.
+
+"Oh, I took it to stop the maddening pain that seemed to be killing me,"
+exclaimed Rose Stillwater, as she let herself drop into an easy chair;
+not speaking frankly this time, for she had taken the morphia to quiet
+her nerves, and enable her to decide upon some course by which she might
+avoid meeting with the Dean of Olivet again, and some excuse for
+withdrawing herself so suddenly from her traveling party.
+
+"So you will remain here?" inquired Cora.
+
+"Oh, yes. I would remain anywhere sooner than move another step."
+
+"Then I will help to get you to bed. Where is your bag?"
+
+"Bag? Bag? I--I don't know! I have not seen it since I fell into that
+stupor! It must be at the depot or at the hospital."
+
+"Then I will get you a night dress," said Cora.
+
+And then she ran off to her own room, and soon returned with a white
+cambric gown, richly trimmed with lace.
+
+When she had prepared her guest for bed, and put her into it, she
+lowered the gas and left her to repose. Then she went to her own room,
+satisfied to be alone with her memories once more. Soon after she heard
+the slow and heavy steps of her grandfather as he passed into his room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVII.
+
+"A MAD MARRIAGE, MY MASTERS."
+
+
+When the party met at a late breakfast the next morning, Mrs. Stillwater
+seemed to have quite recovered her health, and what was still better, in
+her opinion, her complexion. She was once again a delicately blooming
+rose. They were still at breakfast when Sylvanus Haught burst in upon
+them, bowed to his grandfather, bowed to Rose Stillwater, and seized
+Cora Rothsay around the neck and covered her with kisses, all in a
+minute and before he spoke a word. Old Aaron Rockharrt glared at him.
+Rose Stillwater smiled on him. But Cora Rothsay put her arms around his
+neck and kissed him with tears of pleased affection.
+
+"Well, sir! You have got through," said the Iron King with dignified
+gravity.
+
+"Yes, sir, got through, 'by the skin of my teeth,' as I might say! And
+got leave of absence, waiting my commission. Hurrah, Cora! Hurrah, the
+Rose that all admire! I shall be your cavalier for the next three months
+at least, and until they send me out to Fort Devil's Icy Peak, to be
+killed and scalped by the redskins!" exclaimed the new fledged soldier,
+throwing up his cap.
+
+"Will you have the goodness to remember where you are, sir, and endeavor
+to conduct yourself with some manner approximating toward propriety?"
+demanded Mr. Rockharrt, with solemn dignity.
+
+"I beg your pardon, grandfather! I beg your pardon, ladies," said
+Sylvanus, assuming so sudden and profound a gravity as to inspire a
+suspicion of irony in the minds of the two women.
+
+But old Aaron Rockharrt understood only an humble and suitable apology.
+
+"Have you breakfasted?" he inquired in a modified tone.
+
+"No, sir; and I am as hungry as a wolf--I mean I took the first train
+down this morning without waiting for breakfast."
+
+The Iron King, whose glare had cut short the first half of the young
+man's reply, now rang, and when the waiter appeared, gave the necessary
+orders.
+
+And soon Sylvanus was seated at the table, sharing the morning meal of
+his family.
+
+"Now that my brother has joined us shall we leave for North End to-day,
+grandfather?" inquired Cora, as they all arose from breakfast.
+
+"No; nor need you make any suggestions of the sort. When I am ready to
+go home, I will tell you. I have business to transact before I leave New
+York," gruffly replied the family bear.
+
+Rose Stillwater took up one of the morning papers and ran her eyes down
+column after column, over page after page. Presently she came to the
+item she was so anxiously looking for:
+
+"The Very Reverend the Dean of Olivet left the city last evening by the
+steamer Nighthawk for Boston."
+
+With a sigh of relief she laid the paper down.
+
+Mr. Rockharrt came and sat down beside her on the sofa, and began to
+speak to her in a low voice.
+
+Sylvan, sitting by Cora at the other end of the apartment, began to tell
+all about the exercises at West Point which she had missed. His voice,
+though not loud, was clear and lively, and quite drowned the sound of
+Mr. Rockharrt and Mrs. Stillwater's words, which Cora could see were
+earnest and important. At last Rose got up in some agitation and hurried
+out of the room. Then old Aaron Rockharrt came up to the young people
+and stood before them. There was something so ominous in his attitude
+and expression that his two grandchildren looked dismayed even before he
+spoke.
+
+"Sir and madam," he said, addressing the young creatures as if they were
+dignitaries of the church or state, "I have to inform you that I am
+about to marry Mrs. Stillwater. The ceremony will be performed at the
+church to-morrow noon. I shall expect you both to attend us there as
+witnesses."
+
+Saying which the Iron King arose and strode out of the room.
+
+The sister and brother lifted their eyes, and might have stared each
+other out of countenance in their silent, unutterable consternation.
+
+Sylvan was the first to find his voice.
+
+"Cora! It is an outrage! It is worse! It is an infamy!" he exclaimed, as
+the blood rushed to his face and crimsoned it.
+
+Cora said never a word, but burst into tears and sobbed aloud.
+
+"Cora! don't cry! You have me now! Oh! the old man is certainly mad, and
+ought to be looked after. Cora, darling, don't take it so to heart! At
+his age, too; seventy-seven! He'll make himself the laughing stock of
+the world! Oh, Cora, don't grieve so! It does not matter after all! Such
+a disgrace to the family! Oh, come now, you know, Cora! this is not the
+way to welcome a fellow home! For any old man to make such a--Oh, I say,
+Cora! come out of that now! If you don't, I swear I will take my hat and
+go out to get a drink!"
+
+"Oh, don't! don't!" gasped his sister; "don't you lend a hand to
+breaking my heart."
+
+"Well, I won't, darling, if you'll only come out of that! It is not
+worth so much grief."
+
+"I will--stop--as soon as--I can!" sobbed the young woman, "but when I
+think--of his reverent gray hairs--brought to such dishonor--by a mere
+adventuress--and we--so powerless--to prevent it, I feel as if--I should
+die."
+
+"Oh, nonsense; you look at it too gravely. Besides, old men have married
+beautiful young women before now!" said Sylvan, troubled by his sister's
+grief, and tacking around in his opinions as deftly as ever did any
+other politician.
+
+"Yes, and got themselves laughed at and ridiculed for their folly!"
+sighed Cora, who had ceased to sob.
+
+"Behind their backs, and that did not hurt them one bit."
+
+"Oh, if Uncle Fabian were only here!"
+
+"Why, what could he do to prevent the marriage?"
+
+"I do not know. But I know this, that if any man could prevent this
+degradation, he would be Uncle Fabian! It would be no use, I fear, to
+telegraph to Clarence!"
+
+"Clarence!" said Sylvanus with a laugh, "Why he has no more influence
+with the Iron King than I have. His father calls him an idiot--and he
+certainly is weakly amiable. He would back his father in anything the
+old man had set his heart upon. But, Cora, listen here, my dear! You and
+I are free at present. We need not countenance this marriage by our
+presence. I, your brother, can take you to another hotel, or take you
+off to Saratoga, where we can stay until I get my orders, and then you
+can go out with me wherever I go. There! the Devil's Icy Peak itself
+will be a holier home than Rockhold, for you."
+
+Cora had become quite calm by this time, and she answered quietly:
+
+"No; you misapprehend me, Sylvan. It was not from indignation or
+resentment that I cried, and not at all for myself. I grieved for him,
+the spellbound old man! No, Sylvanus; since we feel assured that no
+power of ours, no power on earth, can turn him from his purpose, we must
+do our duty by him. We must refrain from giving him pain or making him
+angry; for his own poor old sake, we must do this! Sylvan, I must attend
+his bride to the altar; and you must attend him--as he desired us to
+do."
+
+"'Desired!' by Jove, I think he commanded! I do not remember ever to
+have heard his Majesty the King of the Cumberland Mines request anybody
+to do anything in the whole course of his life. He always ordered him to
+do it! Well, Cora, dear, I will be 'best' man to the bridegroom, since
+you say so! I have always obeyed you, Cora. Ah! you have trained me for
+the model of an obedient husband for some girl, Cora! Now, I am going
+down stairs to smoke a cigar. You don't object to that, I hope, Mrs.
+Rothsay?" lightly inquired the youth as he sauntered out of the room.
+
+He had just closed the door when Mrs. Stillwater entered.
+
+She came in very softly, crossed the room, sat down on the sofa beside
+Cora, and slipped her arm around the lady's waist, purring and cooing:
+
+"I have been waiting to find you alone, dearest. I just heard your
+brother go down stairs. Mr. Rockharrt has told you, dear?"
+
+"Yes; he has told me. Take your arms away from me, if you please, Mrs.
+Stillwater, and pray do not touch me again," quietly replied the young
+lady, gently withdrawing herself from the siren's close embrace.
+
+"You are displeased with me. Can you not forgive me, then?" pleaded
+Rose, withdrawing her arms, but fixing her soft blue eyes pleadingly
+upon the lady's face.
+
+"You have given me no personal offense, Mrs. Stillwater."
+
+"Cora, dear--" began Rose.
+
+"Mrs. Rothsay, if you please," said Cora, in a quiet tone.
+
+"Mrs. Rothsay, then," amended Rose, in a calm voice, as if determined
+not to take offense--"Mrs. Rothsay, allow me to explain how all this
+came to pass. I have always, from the time I first lived in his house,
+felt a profound respect and affection for your grandfather--"
+
+"Mr. Rockharrt, if you please," said Cora.
+
+"For Mr. Rockharrt, then, as well as for his sainted wife, the late Mrs.
+Rockharrt. I--"
+
+"Madam!" interrupted Cora. "Is there nothing too holy to be profaned by
+your lips? You should at least have the good taste to leave that lady's
+sacred memory alone."
+
+"Certainly, if you wish; but she was a good friend to me, and I served
+her with a daughter's love and devotion. In my last visit to Rockhold I
+also served Mr. Rockharrt more zealously than ever, because, indeed, he
+needed such affectionate service more than before. He has grown so much
+accustomed to my services that they now seem vitally necessary to him.
+But, of course, I cannot take care of him day and night, in parlor and
+chamber, unless I become his wife--'the Abisheg of his age.' And so,
+Cora, dear--I beg pardon--Mrs. Rothsay, I have yielded to his pleadings
+and consented to marry him."
+
+"Mr. Rockharrt has already told me so," coldly replied Cora.
+
+"And, dear, I wish to add this--that the marriage need make no
+difference in our domestic relations at Rockhold."
+
+"I do not understand you."
+
+"I mean in the family circle."
+
+"Oh! thank you!" said Cora, with the nearest approach to a sneer that
+ever she made. "I have heard all you have to say, Mrs. Stillwater, and
+now I have to reply--First, that I give you no credit for any respect or
+affection that you may profess for Mr. Rockharrt, or for disinterested
+motives in marrying the aged millionaire."
+
+"Oh, Cora--Mrs. Rothsay!"
+
+"I will say no more on that point. Mr. Rockharrt is old and worn with
+many business cares. I would not willingly pain or anger him. Therefore,
+because he wills it, for his sake, not for yours, I will attend you to
+the altar. Also, if he should desire me to do so, I shall remain at
+Rockhold until the return of Mr. Fabian Rockharrt."
+
+At the sound of this name Rose Stillwater winced and shivered.
+
+"Then, knowing that his favorite son will be near him, I shall leave him
+with the freer heart and go away with my brother, withersoever he may be
+sent. Mr. Fabian is expected to return within a few weeks, and will
+probably be here long before my brother receives his orders. Now, Mrs.
+Stillwater, I think all has been said between us, and you will please
+excuse my leaving you," said Cora, as she arose and withdrew from the
+room.
+
+Then Rose Stillwater lost her self-command. Her blue eyes blazed, she
+set her teeth, she doubled her fist, and shaking it after the vanished
+form of the lady, she hissed:
+
+"Very well, proud madam! I'll pay you for all this! You shall never
+touch one cent of old Aaron Rockharrt's millions!"
+
+Having launched this threat, she got up and went to her room. Ten
+minutes later she drove out in a carriage alone. She did not return to
+luncheon. Neither did Mr. Rockharrt, who had gone down to Wall Street.
+Sylvan and Cora lunched alone, and spent the afternoon together in the
+parlor, for they had much to say to each other after their long
+separation, and much also to say of the impending marriage. During that
+afternoon many packages and bandboxes came by vans, directed to Mrs.
+Rose Stillwater. These were sent to her apartment. At dusk Mrs.
+Stillwater returned and went directly to her room. She probably did not
+care to face the brother and sister together, unsupported by their
+grandfather. A few minutes later Mr. Rockharrt came in, looking moody
+and defiant, as if quite conscious of the absurdity of his position, or
+ready to crush any one who betrayed the slightest, sense of humor. Then
+dinner was served, and Rose Stillwater came out of her room and entered
+the parlor--a vision of loveliness--her widow's weeds all gone, her
+dress a violet brocaded satin, with fine lace berthe and sleeve
+trimmings, white throat and white arms encircled with pearl necklace and
+bracelets; golden red hair dressed high and adorned with a pearl comb.
+She came in smiling and took her place at the table.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt looked up at her in surprise and not altogether with
+pleasure. Rose Stillwater, seeing his expression of countenance, got a
+new insight into the mind of the old man whom she had thought she knew
+so well. During dinner, to cover the embarrassment which covered each
+member of the small party, Sylvan began to talk of the cadets' ball at
+West Point on the preceding evening; the distinguished men who were
+present, the pretty girls with whom he had danced, the best waltzers,
+and so forth, and then the mischievous scamp added:
+
+"But there wasn't a brunette present as handsome as my sister Cora, nor
+a blonde as beautiful as my own grandmamma-elect."
+
+When they all left the table, Mrs. Stillwater went to her room, and Mr.
+Rockharrt took occasion to say:
+
+"I wish you both to understand the programme for to-morrow. There is to
+be no fuss, no wedding breakfast, no nonsense whatever."
+
+Sylvan thought to himself that the marriage alone was nonsense enough to
+stand by itself, like a velvet dress, which is spoiled by additions; but
+he said nothing. Mr. Rockharrt, standing on the rug with his back to the
+mantlepiece and his hands clasped behind him, continued:
+
+"Sylvan, you will wear a morning suit; Cora, you will wear a visiting
+costume, just what you would wear to an ordinary church service. Rose
+will be married in her traveling dress. Immediately after the ceremony
+we, myself and wife, shall enter a carriage and drive to the railway
+depot and take the train for Niagara. You two can return here or go to
+Rockhold or wherever you will. We shall make a short tour of the Falls,
+lakes, St. Lawrence River, and so on, and probably return to Rockhold by
+the first of July. I cannot remain long from the works while Fabian is
+away. Now, am I clearly understood?"
+
+"Very clearly, sir," replied Sylvan, speaking for himself and sister.
+
+"Then, good night; I am going to bed," said the Iron King, and without
+waiting for a response, he strode out of the room.
+
+"Who ever heard of a man dictating to a woman what she shall wear?"
+exclaimed Cora.
+
+Sylvan laughed.
+
+"Why, the King of the Cumberland mines would dictate when you should
+rise from your seat and walk across the room; when you should sit down
+again; when you should look out of the window, and every movement of
+your life, if it were not too much trouble. Good night, Cora."
+
+The brother and sister shook hands and parted for the night, each going
+to his or her respective apartment. Early the next morning the little
+party met at breakfast. The Iron King looked sullen and defiant, as if
+he were challenging the whole world to find any objection to his
+remarkable marriage at their peril. Mrs. Stillwater, in a pretty morning
+robe of pale blue sarcenet, made very plainly, looked shy, humble, and
+deprecating, as if begging from all present a charitable construction of
+her motives and actions. Cora Rothsay looked calm and cold in her usual
+widow's dress and cap.
+
+Sylvan seemed the only cheerful member of the party, and tried to make
+conversation out of such trifles as the bill of fare furnished. All were
+relieved when the party separated and went to their rooms to dress for
+church. At eleven o'clock they reassembled in the parlor. Mr. Rockharrt
+wore a new morning suit. He might have been going down to Wall Street
+instead of to his own wedding. Rose Stillwater wore a navy blue,
+lusterless silk traveling dress, with hat, veil and gloves to match, all
+very plain, but extremely becoming to her fresh complexion and ruddy
+hair. Cora wore her widow's dress of lusterless black silk with mantle,
+bonnet, veil and gloves to match. Sylvan, like his grandfather, wore a
+plain morning suit.
+
+"Well, are you all ready?" demanded old Aaron, looking critically upon
+the party.
+
+"All ready, sir," chirped Sylvan for the others.
+
+"Come, then."
+
+And the aged bridegroom drew the arm of his bride-elect within his own
+and led the way down stairs and out to the handsome carriage that stood
+waiting.
+
+He handed her in, put her on the back seat and placed himself beside
+her.
+
+Sylvan helped his sister into the carriage and followed her. They seated
+themselves on the front seat opposite the bridal pair.
+
+And the carriage drove off.
+
+"Oh!" suddenly exclaimed old Aaron Rockharrt, rummaging in the breast
+pocket of his coat and drawing thence a white envelope and handing it to
+Sylvan; "here, take this and give it to the minister as soon as we come
+before him."
+
+The young man received the packet and looked inquiringly at the elder.
+It was really the marriage fee for the officiating clergyman, and a very
+ostentatious one also; but the Iron King did not condescend to explain
+anything. He had given it to his grandson with his orders, which he
+expected to be implicitly obeyed without question. They reached the
+church, the same church in which they had heard the dean preach on the
+previous Sunday. They alighted from the carriage and entered the
+building, old Aaron Rockharrt leading the way with his bride-elect on
+his arm, Sylvan and Cora following. The church was vacant of all except
+the minister, who stood in his surplice behind the chancel railing, and
+the sexton who had opened the door for the party, and was now walking
+before them up the aisle.
+
+The church was empty, because this, though the wedding of a millionaire,
+was one of which it might be said that there was "No feast, no cake, no
+cards, no nothing."
+
+The party reached the altar railing, bowed silently to the minister, who
+nodded gravely in return, and then formed before the altar--the
+venerable bridegroom and beautiful bride in the center, Sylvan on the
+right of the groom, Cora on the left of the bride. The young man
+performed the mission with which he had been intrusted, and then the
+ceremony was commenced. It went on smoothly enough until the minister in
+its proper place asked the question:
+
+"Who giveth this woman to be married to this man?"
+
+There was an awful pause.
+
+No one had thought of the necessity of having a "church father" to give
+away the bride.
+
+The officiating clergyman saw the dilemma at a glance, and quietly
+beckoned the gray-haired sexton to come up and act as a substitute. But
+Sylvan Haught, with a twinkle of fun in his eyes, turned his head and
+whispered to the new comer:
+
+"'After me is manners of you.'"
+
+Then he took the bride's hand and said mightily:--
+
+"I do."
+
+The marriage ceremony went on to its end and was over. Congratulations
+were offered. The register was signed and witnessed.
+
+And old Aaron Rockharrt led his newly married wife out of the church and
+put her into the carriage. Then turning around to his grandchildren he
+said:
+
+"You can walk back to the hotel. See that the porters send off our
+luggage by express to the Cataract House, Niagara Falls. They have their
+orders from me, but do you see that these orders are promptly obeyed.
+Now, good-by."
+
+He shook hands with Sylvan and Cora, and entered the carriage, which
+immediately rolled off in the direction of the railway station.
+
+The brother and sister walked back to the hotel together.
+
+"It will be a curious study, Cora, to see who will rule in this new
+firm. I believe it is universally conceded that when an old man marries
+a pretty young wife, he becomes her slave. But our honored grandfather
+has been absolute monarch so long that I doubt if he can be reduced to
+servitude."
+
+"I have no doubts on the subject," replied his sister.
+
+"I have been watching them. He is not subjugated by Rose. He is not
+foolishly in love with her, at his age. He likes her as he likes other
+agreeable accessories for his own sake. I have neither respect nor
+affection for Rose, yet I feel some compassion for her now. Whatever the
+drudgery of her life as governess may have been since she left us, long
+ago, it has been nothing, nothing to the penal servitude of the life
+upon which she has now entered. The hardest-worked governess,
+seamstress, or servant has some hours in the twenty-four, and some nook
+in the house that she can call her own where she can rest and be quiet.
+But Rose Rockharrt will have no such relief! Do I not remember my dear
+grandmother's life? And my grandfather really did love her, if he ever
+loved any one on earth. This misguided young woman fondly hopes to be
+the ideal old man's darling. She deceives herself. She will be his
+slave, by day and night seldom out of his sight, never out of his
+service and surveillance. Possibly--for she is not a woman of
+principle--she may end by running away from her master, and that before
+long."
+
+Cora's last words brought them to the "Ladies' Entrance" of their hotel.
+
+"Go up stairs, Cora, and I will step into the office and see if there
+are any letters," said Sylvan.
+
+Mrs. Rothsay went up into their private sitting room, dropped into a
+chair, took off her bonnet and began to fan herself, for her midday walk
+had been a very warm one.
+
+Presently Sylvan came up with a letter in his hand.
+
+"For you, Cora, from Uncle Fabian! There is a foreign mail just in."
+
+"Give it to me."
+
+Sylvan handed her the letter, Cora opened it, glanced over it, and
+exclaimed:
+
+"Uncle Fabian says that he will be home the last of this month."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XVIII.
+
+A CRISIS AT ROCKHOLD.
+
+
+Brother and sister went to Newport and spent a month. The Dean of Olivet
+was in the town, but they never met him because they never went into
+society. Toward the last of June, Corona proposed that they should go at
+once to Rockhold.
+
+The next morning brother and sister took the early train for New York.
+On the morning of the second day they took the express train for
+Baltimore, where they stopped for another night. And on the morning of
+the third day they took the early train for North End, where they
+arrived at sunset. They went to the hotel to get dinner and to engage
+the one hack of the establishment to take them to Rockhold.
+
+Almost the first man they met on the hotel porch was Mr. Clarence, who
+rushed to meet them.
+
+"Hurrah, Sylvan! Hurrah, old boy! Back again! Why didn't you write or
+telegraph? How do you do, Cora! Ah! when will you get your roses back,
+my dear? And how is his Majesty? Why is he not with you? Where did you
+leave him?" demanded Mr. Clarence in a gale of high spirits at greeting
+his nephew and niece again.
+
+"He is among the Thousand Islands somewhere with his bride," answered
+Cora.
+
+"His--what?" inquired Mr. Clarence, with a puzzled air.
+
+"His wife," said Cora.
+
+"His wife? What on earth are you talking about, Cora? You could not have
+understood my question. I asked you where my father was!" said the
+bewildered Mr. Clarence.
+
+"And I told you that he is on his wedding trip with his bride, among the
+Thousand Islands," replied Cora.
+
+Mr. Clarence turned in a helpless manner.
+
+"Sylvan," he said, "tell me what she means, will you?"
+
+"Why, just what she says. Our grandfather and grandmother are on the
+St. Lawrence, but will be home on the first of July," Sylvan explained.
+
+But Mr. Clarence looked from the brother to the sister and back again in
+the utmost perplexity.
+
+"What sort of a stupid joke are you two trying to get off?" he inquired.
+
+They had by this time reached the public parlor of the hotel and found
+seats.
+
+"Is it possible, Uncle Clarence, that you do not know Mr. Rockharrt was
+married on the thirty-first of last month, in New York, to Mrs.
+Stillwater?" inquired Cora.
+
+"What! My father!"
+
+"Why should you be amazed or incredulous, Uncle Clarence? The
+incomprehensible feature, to my mind, is that you should not have heard
+of the affair directly from grandfather himself. Has he really not
+written and told you of his marriage?"
+
+"He has never told me a word of his marriage, though he has written a
+dozen or more letters to me within the last few weeks."
+
+"That is very extraordinary. And did you not hear any rumor of it? Did
+no one chance to see the notice of it in the papers?"
+
+"No one that I know of. No; I heard no hint of my father's marriage from
+any quarter, nor had I, nor any one else at Rockhold or at North End,
+the slightest suspicion of such a thing."
+
+"That is very strange. It must have been in the papers," said Sylvan.
+
+"If it was I did not see it, but, then, I never think of looking at the
+marriage list."
+
+"I am inclined to think that it never got into the papers. The marriage
+was private, though not secret. And you, Sylvan, should have seen that
+the marriage was inserted in all the daily papers. It was your special
+duty as groomsman. But you must have forgotten it, and I never
+remembered to remind you of it," said Cora.
+
+"Not I. I never forgot it, because I never once thought of it. Didn't
+know it was my duty to attend to it. Besides, I had so many duties. Such
+awful duties! Think of my having to be my own grandmother's church papa
+and give her away at the altar! That duty reduced me to a state of
+imbecility from which I have not yet recovered."
+
+"But," said Mr. Clarence, with a look of pain on his fine, genial
+countenance, "it is so strange that my father never mentioned his
+marriage in any of his letters to me."
+
+"Perhaps he did not like to mix up sentiment with business," kindly
+suggested Sylvan.
+
+"I don't think it was a question of sentiment," sighed Mr. Clarence.
+
+"What? Not his marriage?"
+
+"No," sighed Mr. Clarence.
+
+"Well, don't worry about the matter. Let us order dinner and engage the
+carriage to take us all to Rockhold. How astonished the darkies will be
+to see us, and how much more astonished to hear the news we have to
+tell! I wonder if they will take kindly to the rule of the new
+mistress?" said Sylvan.
+
+"Why did not one of you have the kindness, and thoughtfulness, to write
+and tell me of my father's marriage?" sorrowfully inquired Mr. Clarence,
+utterly ignoring the just spoken words of his nephew.
+
+"Dear Uncle Clarence, I should certainly have written and told you all
+about it at once, if I had not taken for granted that grandfather had
+informed you of his intention, as was certainly his place to do. And
+even if I had written to you on any other occasion, I should assuredly
+have alluded to the marriage. But, you see, I never wrote to any one
+while away," Cora explained.
+
+"Now, Uncle Clarence, just take Cora's explanation and apology for both
+of us, will you, for it fits me as well as it does her? And now you two
+may keep the ball rolling, while I go out and order dinner and engage
+the hack," said Sylvan, starting for the office.
+
+When he was gone Clarence asked Cora to give him all the details of the
+extraordinary marriage, and she complied with his request.
+
+"It will make a country talk," said the young man, with a sigh, which
+Cora echoed.
+
+"And you say they will be home on the first of July?" he inquired.
+
+"Yes," said Cora.
+
+"I wish I had known in time. I would have had old Rockhold Hall prepared
+as it should be for the reception of my father's bride, though I do so
+strongly disapprove the marriage. Do you know, Cora, that old house has
+never had its furniture renewed within my memory? Some of the rooms are
+positively mouldy and musty. And whoever heard of a wealthy man like my
+father bringing his wife home to a neglected old country house like
+Rockhold, without first having it renovated and refurnished?"
+
+"I do not believe he ever once thought of the propriety or necessity of
+repairing and refitting. His mind is quite absorbed in his new and vast
+speculations. He spent every day down in Wall Street while we stayed in
+New York city."
+
+"Well, Corona, this is the twenty-eighth of June, and we have four days
+before us; for I do not suppose the newly married pair will arrive
+before the evening of the first of July; so we must do the best we can,
+my dear, to make the house pleasant in this short time."
+
+"And Uncle Fabian and his wife will be at Rockhold about the same
+time," added Cora.
+
+"I knew Fabian would be at North End on the first of July, but I did not
+know that he would go on to Rockhold. I thought he would go on to their
+new house. So we shall have two brides to welcome, instead of one."
+
+"Yes. And now, Uncle Clarence, will you please ring for a chambermaid? I
+must go to a bed room and get some of this railroad dust out of my
+eyes," said Cora.
+
+At nine o'clock in the very warm evening, the three were sitting near
+the open windows, when they started at the sound of a hearty, genial
+voice in the adjoining room, inquiring for accommodations for the night.
+
+"It is Fabian!" cried Mr. Clarence, springing up in joy and rushing out
+of the room to welcome his only and much beloved brother.
+
+The glad voices of the two brothers in greeting reached their ears, and
+a moment after the door was thrown open again, and Mr. Clarence entered,
+conducting Mr. and Mrs. Fabian Rockharrt.
+
+As soon as they found themselves alone, the two brothers took convenient
+seats to have a talk.
+
+"How goes on the works, Clarence?" inquired Mr. Fabian.
+
+"Very prosperously. You will go through them to-morrow and see for
+yourself."
+
+"And how goes on the great scheme?"
+
+"Even better than the works. Last reports shares selling at one hundred
+and thirty."
+
+"Same over yonder. When I left Amsterdam shares selling like hot cakes
+at a hundred and thirty-one seventenths. How is the governor?" inquired
+Mr. Fabian.
+
+"As flourishing as a successful financier and septuagenarian bridegroom
+can be."
+
+"Why!--what do you mean?"
+
+"Haven't you heard the news?"
+
+"What is it? You--you don't mean--"
+
+"Has our father written nothing to you of a very important and utterly
+unexpected act of his life?"
+
+"No."
+
+"I advised him to marry--"
+
+"You! You! Fabian! You advised our father to do such an absurd thing at
+his age?"
+
+"I confess I don't see the absurdity of it," quietly replied the elder
+brother.
+
+"Oh, why did you counsel him to such an act?" inquired Mr. Clarence,
+more in sorrow than in anger.
+
+"Out of pure good nature. I was getting married myself and wanted
+everybody to be as happy as I was myself, particularly my old father.
+Now I wonder he did not write to me of his happiness; but perhaps he has
+done so and the letter passed me on the sea. When did this marriage take
+place?"
+
+"On the last day of May."
+
+"Whe-ew! Then there was ample time in which to have written the news to
+me. And I have had at least half a dozen business letters since the date
+of his marriage, in any of which he might have mentioned the occurrence
+had he so chosen. The lady is no longer young. She must be forty-eight,
+and she is handsome, cultured, dignified and of very high rank. A
+queenly woman!"
+
+"Do you know whom you are talking about, Fabian?"
+
+"Mrs. Bloomingfield, the lady I recommended, whom father married."
+
+"Oh, indeed; I thought you didn't know what you were talking about or
+whom you were talking of," said Mr. Clarence.
+
+"What do you mean by that?"
+
+"Our father never accepted your recommendation; never proposed to the
+handsome, high spirited Mrs. Bloomingfield."
+
+"What!" exclaimed Mr. Fabian. "Whom, then?" "Whom? Whom should he have
+selected but
+
+    "'The Rose that all ad-mi-r-r-?'
+
+"Clarence, what, in the fiend's name, do you mean? Whom has my father
+married?" demanded Mr. Fabian, starting up and staring at his younger
+brother.
+
+"Mrs. Rose Flowers Stillwater," replied Mr. Clarence, staring back.
+
+Mr. Fabian dropped back in his chair, while every vestige of color left
+his face.
+
+"Why, Fabian! Fabian! Why should you care so much as all this? Speak,
+Fabian; what is the matter?" inquired the younger brother, rising and
+bending over the elder.
+
+"What is the matter?" cried Mr. Fabian, excitedly. "Ruin is the matter!
+Ruin, disgrace, dishonor, degradation, an abyss of infamy; that is the
+matter."
+
+"Oh, come now! see here! that is all wild talk. The young woman was only
+a nursery governess, to be sure, in our house, and then widow of some
+skipper or other; but she was respectable, though of humble position."
+
+"Clarence, hush! You know nothing about it!" exclaimed Mr. Fabian,
+wiping his forehead with his handkerchief, and then getting up and
+walking the floor with rapid strides.
+
+"I don't understand all this, Fabian. We were all of us a good deal cut
+up by the event, but nothing like this!" said Mr. Clarence, uneasily.
+
+"No; you don't understand. But listen to me: I was on my way to Rockhold
+to join in the family reunion, and to show the old homestead to my wife;
+but I cannot take her there now. I cannot introduce her to the new Mrs.
+Rockharrt--the new Mrs. Rockharrt!" he repeated, in a tone and with a
+gesture of disgust and abhorrence. "I shall turn back, and take my wife
+to our new home; and when I go to Rockhold, I shall go alone."
+
+"Fabian, you make me dreadfully uneasy. What do you know of Rose
+Stillwater that is to her discredit?" demanded Clarence Rockharrt.
+
+His elder brother paused in his excited walk, dropped his head upon his
+chest and reflected for a few moments. Then he seemed to recover some
+degree of self-control and self-recollection. He returned to his chair,
+sat down, and said:
+
+"Of my own personal knowledge I know nothing against the woman but just
+this--that she is but half educated, deceitful, and unreliable. And that
+knowledge I gained by experience after she had first left Rockhold, to
+which I had first introduced her for a governess to our niece. I had
+nothing to do with her return to the old hall, and would have never
+countenanced such a proceeding if I had been in the country."
+
+"That is all very deplorable, but yet it hardly warrants your very
+strong language, Fabian. I am sorry that you have discovered her to be
+'ignorant, deceitful, and unreliable,' but let us hope that now, when
+she is placed above temptation, she will reform. Don't take exaggerated
+views of affairs, Fabian."
+
+The elder man was growing calmer and more thoughtful. Presently he said:
+
+"You are right, Clarence. My indignation, on learning that that woman
+had succeeded in trapping our Iron King, led me into extravagant
+language on the subject. Forget it, Clarence. And whatever you do, my
+brother, drop no hint to any one of what I have said to you to-night,
+lest our father should hear of it; for if he should--"
+
+Mr. Fabian paused.
+
+"I shall never drop a hint that might possibly give our father one
+moment of uneasiness. Be sure of that, Fabian."
+
+"That is good, my brother! And we will agree to ignore all faults in our
+young stepmother, and for our father's sake treat her with all proper
+respect."
+
+"Of course. I could not do otherwise. And, Fabian, I hope you will
+reconsider the matter, and bring Violet to Rockhold to join our family
+reunion."
+
+"No, Clarence," said the elder brother; "there is just where I must draw
+the line. I cannot introduce my wife to the new Mrs. Rockharrt."
+
+"But it seems to me that you are very fastidious, Fabian. Do you expect
+always to be able to keep Violet from meeting with 'ignorant, insincere
+and unreliable' people, in a world like this?" inquired Mr. Clarence,
+significantly.
+
+"No, not entirely, perhaps; yet, so far as in me lies, I will try to
+keep my simple wood violet 'unspotted from the world,'" replied Mr.
+Fabian, who, untruthful and dishonest as he was in heart and life, yet
+reverenced while he wondered at the purity and simplicity of his young
+wife's nature.
+
+"I am afraid the pater will feel the absence of Violet as a slight to
+his bride," said Mr. Clarence.
+
+"No; I shall take care that he does not. Violet is in very delicate
+health, and that must be her excuse for staying at home."
+
+The brothers talked on for a little while longer; and then, when they
+had exhausted the subject for the time being, Mr. Clarence said he would
+go and look up Sylvan, and he went out for the purpose. Fabian
+Rockharrt, left alone, resumed his disturbed walk up and down the room,
+muttering to himself:
+
+"The traitress! the unprincipled traitress! How dared she do such a
+deed? Didn't she know that I could expose her, and have her cast forth
+in ignominy from my father's house? Or did she venture all in the hope
+that consideration of my father's age and position in the world would
+shut my mouth and stay my hand? She is mistaken, the jade! Unless she
+falls into my plans, and works for my interest, she shall be exposed and
+degraded from her present position."
+
+Mr. Fabian was interrupted by the re-entrance of Mrs. Rothsay. He turned
+to meet her and inquired:
+
+"Where did you leave Violet, my dear?"
+
+"She is in her own room, which is next to mine. I went in with her and
+saw her to bed, and waited until she went to sleep," replied Cora.
+
+"Poor little one! She is very fragile, and has been very much fatigued.
+I do not think, my dear, that I can take her on to Rockhold to-morrow. I
+think I must let her rest here for a day or two."
+
+"It would be best, not only on account of Violet's delicacy and
+weariness, but also on account of the condition of the house at
+Rockhold, which has not been opened or aired for months."
+
+"That is true; though I had not thought of it before," said Mr. Fabian,
+who was well pleased that Cora so readily fell in with his plans.
+
+"What do you think of the pater's marriage, Cora?' he next inquired.
+
+"I would rather not give an opinion, Uncle Fabian," she answered.
+
+"Then I am equally well answered, for that is giving a very strong
+opinion!" he exclaimed.
+
+"The deed is done and cannot be undone!"
+
+"Can it not? Perhaps it can!"
+
+"What do you mean, Uncle Fabian?"
+
+"Nothing that you need trouble yourself about, my dear. But tell me
+this--what do you mean to do, Cora? Do you mean to stay on at Rockhold?"
+
+"I suppose I must do so."
+
+"Not at all, if you do not like! You are an independent widow and may go
+where you please."
+
+"I know that and wish to go; but I do not wish to make a scene or cause
+a scandal by leaving my grandfather's protection so suddenly after his
+marriage, which is open enough to criticism, as it is. So I must stay on
+at Rockhold so long as Sylvan's leave shall last, and until he shall
+receive his commission and orders. Then I will go with him wherever his
+duty may call him."
+
+"Good girl! You have decided well and wisely. Though the post of duty to
+which the callow lieutenantling will be ordered must, of course, be Fort
+Jumping Off Point, at the extreme end of the habitable globe. Well, my
+dear, I must bid you good night, for, see, it is on the stroke of eleven
+o'clock, and I am rather tired from my journey, for, you must know, we
+rushed it through from New York to North End without lying over," said
+Mr. Fabian, as he shook hands with his niece.
+
+He retired, and his example was soon followed by all his party.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIX.
+
+A FAMILY REUNION.
+
+
+The next morning, after an early breakfast, the travelers assembled in
+the hall of the hotel to take leave of each other. Clarence, Sylvan, and
+Cora entered the capacious carriage of the establishment to drive to
+Rockhold, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Fabian Rockharrt on the porch of the
+hotel, at which they had decided to rest for a few days.
+
+"We shall go to Rockhold to welcome the king and queen when they return,
+Cora," said Mr. Fabian, waving his hand to the departed trio, though he
+had not the least intention of keeping his word. He then led his pretty
+Violet into the house. The lumbering carriage rolled along the village
+street, passed the huge buildings of the locomotive works, and out into
+the road that lay between the fool of the range of mountains and the
+banks of the river.
+
+The ferryboat was at the wharf, and the broad shouldered negro dwarf was
+standing on it, pole in hand.
+
+His look of surprise and delight on seeing Sylvan and Cora was good to
+behold.
+
+"Why, Lors bress my po' ole soul, young marse an' miss, is yer come sure
+'nough? 'Deed I's moughty proud to see yer. How's de ole marse? When he
+coming back agin?" he queried, as the carriage rolled slowly across the
+gangplank from the wharf to the deck of the ferryboat.
+
+"Your ole marse is quite well, Uncle Moses, and will be home on the
+first of the month with his new wife," said Sylvan, who could not miss
+the fun of telling this rare bit of news to the aged ferryman.
+
+The old negro dropped his pole into the water, opened his mouth and eyes
+to their widest extent and gasped and stared.
+
+"Wid--w'ich?" he said, at last.
+
+"With his new wife and your new mistress," answered Sylvan.
+
+The old negro dropped his chin on his chest, raised his knobby black
+fingers to his head and scratched his gray hair with a look of quaint
+perplexity, as he muttered,
+
+"Now I wunner ef I tuk too heavy a pull on to dat dar rum jug, fo' I lef
+de house dis mornin'--I wunner if I did."
+
+His mate stopped and pulled the pole up out of the water and began
+himself to push off the boat until it was afloat.
+
+They soon reached the opposite shore, drove off the boat and up the
+avenue between the flowering locust trees that formed a long, green,
+fragrant arch above their heads, and so on to the gray old house. In a
+very few moments the door was opened and all the household servants
+appeared to welcome the returning party. Most of them looked more
+frightened than pleased; but when anxious glances toward the group
+leaving the carriage assured them that the family "Boodlejock" was not
+present, they seemed relieved and delighted to see the others.
+
+With the easy, respectful familiarity of long and faithful service, the
+negro men and women crowded around the entering party with loving
+greetings.
+
+The news of the Iron King's marriage was told by Sylvan. Had a bombshell
+fallen and exploded among the servants, they could not have been more
+shocked. There was a simultaneous exclamation of surprise and dismay,
+and then total silence.
+
+At the end of the third day all was ready for the reception of Mr. and
+Mrs. Rockharrt.
+
+The next day was the first of July. As soon as Mr. Clarence reached his
+private office at the works he found a telegram waiting him. He opened
+it, and read the following:
+
+    CAPON SPRINGS, July 1, 18--
+
+    Shall reach North End by the 6 p.m. train. Send the carriage to
+    meet that train. Shall go directly to Rockhold. Order dinner there
+    for 8 p.m.
+
+    AARON ROCKHARRT.
+
+Mr. Clarence put a boy on horseback and sent him on to Cora, with this
+message inclosed in a note from himself. And then he gave his attention
+to the duties of his office. He was still busy at his desk when Mr.
+Fabian strolled in.
+
+"Well, old man, good morning. I return to duty to-day, because it is the
+first of the month, you know."
+
+"And also the first of the financial year. There has been so much to do
+within the last few days, I am glad you have returned to your post. I
+would like the pater to find all right when he comes to inspect. By the
+way, I have just got a telegram from him. I have just sent it off to
+Cora, so that she may know when to send the carriage, and for what hour
+to order dinner. You know it would never do to have anything 'gang
+aglee' in which the pater is interested."
+
+"No. Well, you and I must go to meet him. We must not fail in any
+attention to the old gentleman."
+
+"Of course not. Oh! what will the people say when they hear the news? I
+do not think that the slightest rumor of the mad marriage has got out I
+know that I have not breathed it."
+
+"Nor I. But of course it will be generally known within twenty-four
+hours; and then I hope the pater will do the handsome thing and give his
+workmen a general holiday and jollification."
+
+"I doubt it, since he has not even refurnished the shabby old drawing
+room at Rockhold in honor of the occasion," said Mr. Clarence.
+
+Then the brothers separated for the day.
+
+Whenever the family traveling carriage happened to be sent from Rockhold
+to the North End railway depot, it always stopped at the North End
+Hotel to rest and water the horses. So when the afternoon waned, as
+Messrs. Fabian and Clarence Rockharrt had to remain busy in their
+respective offices up to the last possible minute, Sylvan was stationed
+on the front porch of the hotel, with the day's newspapers and a case of
+cigars to solace him while watching for the carriage.
+
+It came at a quarter to five o'clock, and while the horses were resting
+and feeding, Sylvan sent a messenger to summon his two uncles. By the
+time the two horses were ready to start again, the two men came up and
+entered the carriage. Sylvan followed them in.
+
+"See here, my boy," said Mr. Fabian, "you can't go, you know. There will
+be no room for you coming back. Clarence and myself fill two seats, and
+your grandfather and--"
+
+"Grandmother fill up the other," added Sylvan. "But never mind; in
+coming back I can ride on the box with the coachman; but go I will to
+meet my venerable grandparents! Bless my wig! didn't I give away my
+grandmother at the altar, and shall I not pay them the attention of
+going to meet them on their return from their wedding tour?"
+
+The horses started at a good pace, passed through the village street,
+entered the main road running miles between the great works, and rolled
+on into the silent forest road that led to the railway depot in the
+valley.
+
+Here the carriage drew up before the solitary station house.
+
+Soon the train ran in and stopped. Old Aaron Rockharrt got out and
+handed down his wife, before turning to face his sons. A man and maid
+servant, loaded down with handbags, umbrellas, waterproofs, and shawls,
+got out of another car.
+
+"Fabian, put Mrs. Rockharrt into the carriage. I shall step into the
+waiting room to speak to the ticket agent," said old Aaron Rockharrt, as
+he strode off to the building.
+
+Fabian Rockharrt gave his arm to the lady, who during all this time had
+remained closely veiled. He led her off, leaving Clarence and Sylvan on
+the platform to wait for the return of Mr. Rockharrt. As soon as Fabian
+and his companion were out of hearing of the rest of their party, he
+turned to her, and bending his head close to her ear, said:
+
+"Well, Ann White, what have you to say for yourself, eh, Ann White?"
+
+He felt her tremble as she answered defiantly:
+
+"Mrs. Rockharrt, if you please."
+
+"No; by my life I will never give to such as you my honored mother's
+name!"
+
+"And yet I have it with all the rights and privileges it bestows, and I
+defy you, Fabian Rockharrt!"
+
+"You know very little of the laws relating to marriage if you think that
+you have legal right to the name and position you have seized, or that I
+have not power to thrust you out of my father's house and into a cell."
+
+"You are insolent! I shall report your words to Mr. Rockharrt, and then
+we shall see who will be thrust out of his house!"
+
+"I think that you had better not. Listen, and I will tell you something
+that you do not know, perhaps."
+
+She turned quickly, inquiringly, toward him. He stooped and whispered a
+few words. He felt her thrill from head to foot, felt her rock and sway
+for a moment, and then--he had just time to catch her before she fell a
+dead weight in his arms.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XX.
+
+THE WHISPERED WORDS.
+
+
+"Well! what's all this?" abruptly demanded old Aaron Rockharrt, as he
+came up, followed by Clarence and Sylvan, just as Fabian was lifting the
+unconscious woman into the carriage.
+
+"Mrs. Rockharrt has been over-fatigued, I think, sir, for she has
+fainted. But don't be alarmed; she is recovering," said Mr. Fabian, as
+he settled the lady in an easy position in a corner of the carriage, and
+found a smelling salts bottle and put it to her nose.
+
+"'Alarmed?' Why should I be?"
+
+"No reason why, sir," answered Mr. Fabian, who then stooped to the woman
+and whispered: "Nor need you be so. You are safe for the present."
+
+"Will you get out of my way and let me come to my place?" demanded the
+Iron King.
+
+"Pardon me, sir," said Fabian, stepping backward from the carriage.
+
+"Fainting?" said the old man, in a tone of annoyance, as he took his
+seat beside his new wife--"fainting? The first Mrs. Rockharrt never
+fainted in her life; nor ever gave any sort of trouble. What's the
+matter with you, Rose? Don't be a consummate fool and turn nervous. I
+won't stand any nonsense," he said roughly, as he peered into the pale
+face of his new slave.
+
+"Oh, it is nothing," she faltered--"nothing. I was overcome by heat. It
+is a very hot day."
+
+"Why, it is a very cool afternoon. What do you mean?" he demanded.
+
+"It has been a very hot day, and the heat and fatigue--"
+
+"Rubbish!" he interrupted. "If I were to give any attention to your
+faints, you would be fainting every day just to have a fuss made over
+you. Now this fainting business has got to be stopped. Do you hear? If
+you are out of order, I will send for my family physician and have you
+examined. If you are really ill, you shall be put under medical
+treatment; if you are not, I will have no fine lady airs and
+affectations. The first Mrs. Rockharrt was perfectly free from them."
+
+"I would not have given way to the weakness if I could have helped
+it--indeed I would not!" said the poor woman, very sincerely.
+
+"We'll see to that!" retorted the Iron King.
+
+Ah, poor Rose! She was not the old man's darling and sovereign, as she
+had hoped and planned to be. She was the tyrant's slave and victim.
+
+A man of Aaron Rockharrt's temperament seldom, at the age of
+seventy-seven, becomes a lover; and never, at any age, a woman's slave.
+
+Mr. Fabian now got into the carriage, and sat down on the front cushion
+opposite his father and step-mother. Mr. Clarence was following him in,
+when Mr. Rockharrt roughly interfered.
+
+"What are you about here, Clarence? What are you going to do?"
+
+"Take my seat in the carriage, of course, sir," answered the young man,
+with a surprised look.
+
+"You are going to do nothing of the sort! I don't choose to have the
+horses overtasked in this manner. I myself, with Fabian and my coachman,
+to say nothing of Mrs. Rockharrt, are weight enough for one pair of
+horses, and you can't come in here. Where's Sylvan?"
+
+"On the box seat beside the driver."
+
+"Really?" demanded the Iron King, in a sarcastic tone, "How many more of
+you desire to be drawn by one pair of horses? Tell Sylvan to come down
+off that."
+
+"But, sir, there is not a single conveyance of any description at the
+station," urged Clarence.
+
+"Indeed! And pray what do you call your own two pairs of sturdy legs?
+Are they not strong enough to convey you from here to North End, where
+you can get the hotel hack? And, by the way, why did you not engage the
+hack to come here and take you back?"
+
+"Because it was out, sir."
+
+"Then you two should not have come here to over-load the horses. But as
+you have come, you must walk back. Has Sylvan got off his perch? Ah,
+yes; I see. Well, tell the coachman to drive first to the North End
+Hotel. And do you two long-legged calves walk after it. If the hack
+should be still out when we get there, you can stay at the hotel until
+it comes in."
+
+"All right, sir," said Clarence, good humoredly; and he closed the door,
+and gave the order to the coachman, who immediately started his horses
+on the way to North End.
+
+On the way home Mr. Clarence inquired of his nephew when he expected to
+receive his commission and where he expected to be ordered.
+
+"How can I tell you? I must wait for a vacancy, I suppose, and then be
+sent to the Devil's Icy Peak or Fort Jumping Off Place, or some such
+other pleasant post of duty on the confines of terra incognita. But the
+farther off, the stranger and the savager it is, the better I shall like
+it for my own sake, but it will be rough on Cora," said the youth.
+
+"But you do not dream of taking Cora out there?" exclaimed Clarence, in
+pained surprise.
+
+"Oh, but I do! She insists on going where I go. She is bent on being a
+voluntary, unsalaried missionary and school-mistress to the Indians
+just because Rule died a martyred minister and teacher among them."
+
+"She is mad!" exclaimed Mr. Clarence; "mad."
+
+"She has had enough to make her mad, but she is sane enough on this
+subject, I can tell you, Uncle Clarence. She is the most level-headed
+young woman that I know, and the plan of life that she has laid out for
+herself is the best course she could possibly pursue under the present
+circumstances. She is very miserable here. This plan will give her the
+most complete change of scene and the most interesting occupation. It
+will cure her of her melancholy and absorption in her troubled past, and
+when she shall be cured she may return to her friends here, or she may
+meet with some fine fellow out there who may make her forget the dead
+and leave off her weeds. That is what I hope for, Uncle Clarence."
+
+And for the rest of their walk they trudged on in silence or with but
+few words passed between them. It was sunset when they reached North
+End.
+
+That evening when Sylvan and Cora found themselves together for a moment
+at Rockhold House, the youth said:
+
+"Corona Rothsay, the sooner I get my orders and you and I depart for
+Scalping Creek or Perdition Peak, or wherever I am to be shoveled off
+to, the better, my dear," said the young soldier.
+
+"What do you think of it all now, Sylvan?" she inquired.
+
+"I think, Cora, that while we do stay here it would be Christian charity
+to be very good to 'the Rose that all admire.' Nobody will admire her
+any more, I think."
+
+"Why?" inquired Cora, in surprise.
+
+"Oh, you didn't see her face. She had her mask veil, do you call
+it?--down, so you couldn't see. But, oh, my conscience! how she is
+changed in these last six weeks! She is not a blooming rose any more.
+She is a snubbed, trampled on, crushed, and wilted rose. Her face looks
+pale; her hair dull; her eyes weak; her beauty nowhere; her cheerfulness
+nowhere else."
+
+Early the next morning, after a hasty breakfast, Mr. Rockharrt entered
+his carriage to drive to the works. Young Mrs. Rockharrt, under the plea
+of fatigue from her long journey, retired to her own room.
+
+Cora said to her brother:
+
+"Sylvan, I wish you would order the little carriage and take me to the
+Banks to see Violet. I should have paid her this attention sooner but
+for the pressure of work that has been upon me. I must defer it no
+longer, but go this morning."
+
+"All right, Cora!" answered the young man, and he left the room to do
+his errand.
+
+Cora went up stairs to get ready for her drive.
+
+In about fifteen minutes the two were seated in the little open landau,
+that had been the gift of the late Mrs. Rockharrt to her beloved
+granddaughter, and that the latter always used when driving out in the
+country around Rockhold during the summer.
+
+They did not have to cross the ferry, as the new house of Fabian
+Rockharrt was on the same side of the river as was Rockhold.
+
+The road on this west side was, however, much rougher, though the
+scenery was much finer.
+
+They drove on through the woods, which here clothed the foot of the
+mountain and grew quite down to the water's edge, meeting over their
+heads and casting the road into deep shadow.
+
+They drove on for about three miles, when they came to a point where
+another road wound up the mountain side, through heavy woods, and
+brought them to a beautiful plateau, on which stood the handsome house
+of Fabian Rockharrt, in the midst of its groves, flower gardens,
+arbors, orchards and conservatories.
+
+It was a double, two-storied house, of brown stone, with a fine green
+background of wooded mountain, and a front view of the river below and
+the mountains beyond. There were bay windows at each end and piazzas
+along the whole front.
+
+As the carriage drew up before the door, Violet was discovered walking
+up and down the front porch. She looked very fragile, but very pretty
+with her slight, graceful figure in a morning dress of white muslin,
+with blue ribbons at her throat and in her pale gold hair.
+
+She came down to meet her visitors.
+
+"Oh, I am so glad you have come, Cora and Sylvan!" she said, throwing
+her arms around the young lady and kissing her heartily, and then giving
+her hand and offering her cheek for a greeting from the young man.
+
+"I fear you must be lonely here, Violet," said Cora.
+
+"Awfully lonesome after Fabian has gone away in the morning, Cora. It
+would be such a charity in you to come and stay with me for a little
+while! Come in now and we will talk about it," said the little lady, as
+she led the way back to the house.
+
+"Sylvan," she continued, as they paused for a moment on the porch, "send
+your coachman around to the stable to put up your carriage. You and Cora
+will spend the day with me at the very least."
+
+"Just as Cora pleases; ask her," said the young man with a glance toward
+his sister.
+
+"Yes," she answered.
+
+"You are a love!" exclaimed Violet as she led the way into the hall and
+thence into a pleasant morning room.
+
+Cora laid off her bonnet and sank into an easy chair by the front
+window.
+
+"Now, as soon as you are well rested, I wish to show you both over the
+house and grounds. Such a charming house, Cora! Such beautiful grounds,
+Sylvan!" exclaimed the proud little mistress.
+
+Cora smiled approval, but did not explain that she herself had gone all
+through the establishment several times, in the course of its fitting
+up, to see that all things were arranged properly before the arrival of
+the married pair.
+
+And when, a little later, the trio went through the rooms, she expressed
+as much pleasure in their appearance as if she had never seen them
+before.
+
+The brother and sister spent a very pleasant day at Violet Banks, and
+when in the cool of the evening they would have taken leave, the young
+wife pleaded with them to stay all night.
+
+In the midst of this discussion Mr. Fabian Rockharrt came home from
+North End.
+
+As he entered the parlor he heard his Wood Violet at her petition. He
+greeted them all, kissed his wife, kissed Cora, and shook hands with
+Sylvan.
+
+"Now let me settle this matter," he said, good humoredly, as he threw
+himself into a large arm chair.
+
+"First tell me, Cora, what is the obstacle to your spending the night
+with us?"
+
+"Only that I did not announce even this visit to the family at
+Rockhold."
+
+"Do you owe any special obligation to do so?"
+
+"It is not a question of obligation, but of courtesy. I should certainly
+be remiss in politeness to leave the house for a two days' visit without
+giving notice of my intention," she answered.
+
+"Oh! I see. Well, I can fix all that. You will both remain to dinner.
+After dinner it will not be too late for Sylvan to take my sure-footed
+cob and ride back to Rockhold and explain to the family that Cora is to
+remain here overnight, and that I will myself take her home to-morrow
+evening if she should wish to go."
+
+"What do you say, Cora," inquired the young man.
+
+"I accept Uncle Fabian's offer and will remain here for the present,"
+said the young lady.
+
+"Like the sensible woman that you are!" exclaimed Mr. Fabian.
+
+Half an hour later the four sat down to dinner in one of the prettiest
+little dining rooms that ever was seen.
+
+Soon after the pleasant meal was over, Sylvan took leave of his friends,
+mounted the white cob that stood saddled at the door, and rode down the
+wooded hill to the river road leading to Rockhold.
+
+The three left behind spent the remainder of the evening on the front
+porch, watching the deep river, the hoary mountains, the starry sky, and
+listening to the hum of insects, the whirl of waters and the singing of
+the summer breeze through the pines that clothed the precipice, and
+talking very little.
+
+They retired to rest at a late hour.
+
+Yet on the next morning they met at an early breakfast, for Mr. Fabian
+had to go to the works to make up for much lost time while affairs were
+left under the sole management of Mr. Clarence.
+
+Cora remained with Violet, who took her into a more interior confidence,
+and exhibited with equal pride and delight sundry dainty little garments
+of fine cambric and linen richly trimmed with lace or embroidery, all
+the work of her own delicate fingers.
+
+"They tell me, Cora, that I could buy all these things as cheap and as
+good as I can make them. But I do take such pleasure in making them with
+my own hands."
+
+Cora kissed her tenderly for all reply.
+
+Then the little lady began to ask questions about her new
+step-mother-in-law.
+
+"You know, Cora, that I could not ask you yesterday while Sylvan was
+with us. He is in your full confidence, no doubt, and I have perfect
+faith in him; but for all that we cannot speak freely on all subjects
+before a third person, however near and dear. At least I could not ask
+searching questions about Mr. Rockharrt's marriage, before Sylvan. Such
+a strange marriage, with such a disparity in years between a man of Mr.
+Rockharrt's venerable age and Mrs. Stillwater's blooming youth! I saw
+her once by chance. She looked a perfect Hebe of radiant health and
+beauty."
+
+Cora Rothsay smiled. She might have told this little lady that there was
+not much more difference between the ages of Rose Stillwater at
+thirty-seven and Aaron Rockharrt at seventy-seven than there was between
+Violet Wood at seventeen and Fabian Rockharrt at fifty-two. But as the
+young wife did not see this fact, Cora refrained from showing it to her.
+
+Then Violet wanted to know what Cora herself thought of the marriage.
+
+Cora said she thought it concerned only the parties in question, and
+only time could tell how it would turn out.
+
+In such confidential talk passed the long summer day.
+
+In the cool of the evening Mr. Fabian came home to dinner.
+
+He joined his wife in trying to persuade Cora to remain with them yet
+another day; but Cora explained that there were many reasons for her
+return to Rockhold.
+
+Finding her obdurate, Mr. Fabian ordered Mrs. Rothsay's landau to be at
+the door at a certain hour.
+
+And as soon as dinner was over and Cora had put on her bonnet and taken
+leave of Violet, with a promise to return within a few days, Mr. Fabian
+placed her in the Carriage, took his seat beside her, and drove down
+the wooded hill to the river road below.
+
+"It is not altogether for pleasure that I pressed you to stay till
+to-night, Cora, although your presence gave great pleasure to my wife
+and self. I wished to have a private talk with you. Cora, you ought not
+to stay at Rockhold. You should come to us," said Mr. Fabian, as they
+bowled along the wooded road between the foot of the hills and the banks
+of the river.
+
+"Why?" inquired the lady.
+
+He did not answer at once, but drove slowly on as if to gain time for
+thought. At length, however, he said:
+
+"I think that a home with Violet and myself at the Banks would be much
+more congenial to you than one with your grandfather and his new wife at
+Rockhold."
+
+"But, my dear Uncle Fabian, under present circumstances my grandfather
+is my natural protector and Rockhold my proper home until my brother has
+one to offer me."
+
+"Cora, you are not frank with me. I know how you feel about staying at
+Rockhold, and also why you feel as you do; though I do not see by what
+agency or intuition you could have gained the knowledge you seem to
+possess."
+
+"Uncle Fabian, I have no positive knowledge of any cause why I should
+shrink from continuing in my natural home. I have only suspicions, which
+perhaps you could clear up or confirm, if you would be frank with me."
+
+He drove on slowly in silence without answering her. She continued:
+
+"I wrote to you while you were in Europe, informing you that Mrs.
+Stillwater had been invited by my grandfather to come to Rockhold to
+remain as long as should be convenient to herself. You never replied to
+my letter."
+
+"I never got such a letter, Cora. It must have been lost with others
+that miscarried among the Continental mails, when they were following me
+from one office to another. But even if I had received such a letter, it
+could have made no difference. I could not have prevented Mrs.
+Stillwater's visit, nor the event that resulted from the visit. I could
+not have written or returned in time."
+
+"Should you have prevented the visit or the marriage that followed if
+you could have done so?"
+
+"Most certainly I should."
+
+"Why?"
+
+"For the same reason that you, or Clarence, or Sylvan would have done
+so. For the reason of its total unfitness. But, Cora, my dear, I repeat
+that you have not been frank with me. You are hiding something from me."
+
+"And I repeat, Uncle Fabian, that I have no positive knowledge of any--"
+
+"Yes; so you said before," he exclaimed, interrupting her. "You have no
+positive knowledge, but you have very strong suspicions founded upon
+very solid grounds! Now, what are these grounds, my dear? I am your
+uncle. You should give me your confidence."
+
+If Mr. Fabian had not put the matter in this way, and if they had not
+been driving along the dark and over-shadowed road where the meeting
+branches of the trees above almost hid the light of the stars, so that
+only one or two occasionally gleamed through the foliage, Cora would
+never have been able to reply to her uncle as she did.
+
+"Uncle Fabian, do you remember a certain warm night in September some
+five years ago, when we stopped at the Wirt House in Baltimore?"
+
+"On our way home from Canada--yes, I do."
+
+"My room was close that night and I could not sleep. A little after
+midnight I got up and put oil my dressing-gown and went into the
+adjoining room, which was our private parlor, and I sat down in a cool
+corner in the shadow of the curtain and in the draught of the window. I
+fell asleep, but was soon awakened by the sound of a door opening and
+some one whispering. I was about to call out when I recognized your
+voice. The room was pitch dark. I could not see you; but then I was
+about to speak, when I recognized another voice--Mrs. Stillwater's. You
+had let yourself in by your own key, through the door leading from the
+hall. She had come in through the door leading from her room, which was
+on the opposite side of the parlor from mine."
+
+Cora paused to wait for the effect of her words.
+
+Mr. Fabian drove on slowly in silence.
+
+"I sat there quite still, too much surprised to speak or move."
+
+"And so you overheard that interview," said Mr. Fabian, with a dash of
+anger in his usually pleasant voice.
+
+"I could not escape. I was amazed, spellbound, too confused to know what
+to do."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"I gathered from your words that you and she were either secretly
+married or secretly engaged to be married."
+
+"That was your opinion."
+
+"What other opinion could I form? You were providing her with a house
+and an income. She was speaking of herself as a daughter-in-law sure to
+be acceptable to your father and mother. Of course, I judged from that
+that you were either wedded or betrothed, which was an incomprehensible
+thing to me, who had been led to believe that the lady was the wife of
+Captain Stillwater, remaining in Baltimore to meet her husband, whose
+ship was then daily expected to arrive."
+
+"You were wrong, Cora," said Mr. Fabian, now speaking in his natural
+tone without a shade of anger--quite wrong, my dear; there was nothing
+of the sort. I was never engaged to Mrs. Stillwater."
+
+"Then she subsequently refused you. I am telling you what I thought
+then, not what I think now. I have heard from her own lips that after
+her husband's death you proposed to her and she refused you."
+
+Mr. Fabian shook with silent laughter. When he recovered he asked:
+
+"And you believed her?"
+
+"I do not know. I was in a maze. There were so many contradictory and
+inconsistent circumstances surrounding the woman that seemed to live and
+move in a web of deception woven by herself," said Cora, wearily, as if
+tired of the subject.
+
+"And, after all, she is a very shallow creature, incapable of any deep
+scheming; there is no great harm. She knows that she is beautiful--still
+beautiful--and her only art is subtle flattery. She flattered your
+grandfather 'to the bent of his humor,' with no deeper design than to
+marry him and gain a luxurious home and an ample dower, as well as an
+adoring husband. You see she has succeeded in marrying him, poor little
+devil! but she has gained nothing but a prison and a jailer and penal
+servitude. I repeat, there is no great harm in her; and yet, Cora, my
+dear, I do not permit my wife to visit her, and I do not wish you to
+remain in the same house with her."
+
+"Why, Uncle Fabian! you were the very first to introduce her to us! It
+was you who were charged with the duty of finding a nursery governess
+for me, and you selected Rose Flowers from a host of applicants."
+
+"I know I did, my dear. She seemed to me a lovely, amiable, attractive
+girl of seventeen, not very well educated, yet quite old enough and
+learned enough to be nursery governess to a little lady of seven
+summers. And she did her duty and made herself beloved by you all, did
+she not?"
+
+"Yes, indeed."
+
+"And so she always has done and always will do. And yet, my dear, you
+must not live in the same house with her now, even if you did live years
+together when she was your governess."
+
+"Are you not even more prejudiced against Mrs. Rockharrt than I am?"
+
+"Bah! no, my dear; I have no ill will against the woman, though I will
+not let my niece live with her or my wife visit her.
+
+"I wish, Uncle Fabian, that you would be more explicit and tell me all
+you know of Rose Flowers--or Mrs. Stillwater--before she became Mrs.
+Rockharrt."
+
+"Have you told me all you know of her, Cora, my dear?"
+
+"I have said several times that I know nothing, and yet--stop--"
+
+"What?"
+
+"In addition to that strange interview that I overheard, yet did not
+understand, there was something else that I saw, but equally did not
+understand."
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"Something that happened while we were in New York city in May last."
+
+"Will you tell me what it was?"
+
+"Yes, certainly. We were staying at the Star Hotel. We stayed over
+Sunday, and we went to the Episcopal church near our hotel, to hear an
+English divine preach."
+
+"Well?"
+
+"He was the celebrated pulpit orator, the Dean of Olivet--"
+
+"Good Heav--" exclaimed Mr. Fabian, involuntarily, but stopping himself
+suddenly.
+
+"What is the matter?" demanded Cora, suspiciously.
+
+"I was too near the edge of the precipice. We might have been in the
+river in another moment," said Mr. Fabian.
+
+Cora did not believe him, but she refrained from saying so.
+
+"The danger is past. Go on, my dear."
+
+"We were shown into the strangers' pew. The voluntary was playing. We
+all bowed our heads for the short private prayer. The voluntary stopped.
+Then we heard the voice of the dean and we lifted our heads. I turned to
+offer Mrs. Stillwater a prayer book. Then I saw her face. It was
+ghastly, and her eyes were fixed in a wild stare upon the face of the
+dean, whose eyes were upon the open book from which he was reading.
+Quick as lightning she covered her face with her veil and so remained
+until we all knelt down for the opening prayer. When we arose from our
+knees, Rose was gone."
+
+Cora paused for a few moments.
+
+"Go on, go on," said Mr. Fabian.
+
+"We did not leave the church. Grandfather evidently took for granted
+that Rose had left on account of some trifling indisposition, and he is
+not easily moved by women's ailments, you know. So we stayed out the
+services and the sermon. When we returned to the hotel we found that
+Rose had retired to her room suffering from a severe attack of neuralgic
+headache, as she said."
+
+"What did you think?"
+
+"I thought she might have been suddenly attacked by maddening pain,
+which had given the wild look to her eyes; but the next day I had good
+reason to change my opinion as to the cause of her strange demeanor."
+
+"What was that?"
+
+"We all left the hotel at an early hour to take the train for West
+Point. Mrs. Stillwater seemed to have quite recovered from her illness.
+We had arrived at the depot and received our tickets, and were waiting
+at the rear of a great crowd at the railway gate, till it should be
+opened to let us pass to our train. I was standing on the right of my
+grandfather, and Rose on my right. Suddenly a man looked around. He was
+a great Wall Street broker who had dealings with your firm. Seeing
+grandfather, he spoke to him heartily, and then begged to introduce the
+gentleman who was with him. And then and there he presented the Dean of
+Olivet to Mr. Rockharrt, who, after a few words of polite greeting,
+presented the dean to me, and turned to find Rose Stillwater."
+
+"Well! Well!"
+
+"She was gone. She had vanished from the crowd at the railway gate as
+swiftly, as suddenly, and as incomprehensibly as she had vanished from
+the church. After looking about him a little, my grandfather said that
+she had got pressed away from us by the crowd, but that she knew her way
+and would take care of herself and follow us to the train all right. But
+when the gates were opened we did not see her, nor did we find her on
+the train, though Mr. Rockharrt walked up and down through the twenty
+cars looking for her, and feeling sure that we should find her. The
+train had started, so we had to go on without her. My grandfather
+concluded that she had accidentally missed it and would follow by the
+next one."
+
+"And what did you think, Cora?"
+
+"I thought that, for some antecedent and mysterious reason, she had fled
+from before the face of the Dean of Olivet at the railway station, even
+as she had done at the church."
+
+"When and where did you find her?"
+
+"Not until our return to New York city. My grandfather was in a fine
+state; kept the telegraph wires at work between West Point and New York,
+until he got some clew to her, and then, without waiting for the closing
+exercises at the military academy, he hurried me back to the city. We
+found the missing woman at St. L----'s hospital, where she had been
+conveyed after having been found in an unconscious condition in the
+ladies' room of the railway depot. She was better, and we brought her
+away to the hotel. The Dean of Olivet went to Newport, and Mrs.
+Stillwater recovered her spirits. A few days later she married Mr.
+Rockharrt at the church where the dean had preached. You know everything
+else about the matter. And now, Uncle Fabian, tell me that woman's
+story, or at least all that is proper for me to know of it."
+
+"Cora, you read Rose Stillwater aright. She did on both these occasions
+fly from before the face of the Dean of Olivet. I will tell you all
+about her, for it is now right that you should know; but you must
+promise never to reveal it."
+
+"I promise."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXI.
+
+WHO WAS ROSE FLOWERS?
+
+
+"Well, my dear Corona, I must ask you to cast your thoughts back to that
+year when you first came to Rockhold to live, and engrossed so much of
+your grandmother's time and attention that your grandfather grew jealous
+and impatient, and commissioned me to 'hire' a nursery governess to
+look after you and teach you the rudiments of education. You remember
+that time, Cora?" inquired Mr. Fabian, as he held the reins with a
+slackened grasp, so that the horse jogged slowly along the wooded road
+between the foot of the mountain and the banks of the river, under the
+star-lit sky.
+
+"I remember perfectly," answered the girl.
+
+"Well, business took me to New York about that time, and I thought it a
+good opportunity to hunt up a governess for you. So I advertised in the
+New York papers, giving my address at an uptown office, while my own
+business kept me down town.
+
+"The first letter I opened interested me so much that I gave my whole
+attention to that first, and so it happened that I had no occasion to
+touch the others. It was from one Ann White, who described herself as a
+motherless and fatherless girl of sixteen, a stranger in this country,
+who was trying to get employment as assistant teacher, governess, or
+copyist, and who was well fitted to take sole charge of a little girl
+seven years old.
+
+"Perhaps this might not have impressed me, but she went on to write that
+she had not a friend in the whole country, that she was utterly
+destitute and desolate, and begged me for Heaven's mercy not to throw
+her letter aside, but to see her and give her a trial. She inclosed her
+photograph, not, as she wrote, from any vanity, but that I might see her
+face and take pity on her.
+
+"Cora, there was an air of childish frankness and simplicity about her
+letter that was well illustrated by her photograph. It was that of a
+sweet-smiling baby face; a sunny, innocent beautiful face. I answered
+the letter immediately, asking for her address, that I might call and
+see her. The next day I received her answer, thanking me with
+enthusiastic earnestness for my prompt attention to her note, and giving
+me the number and street of her residence in Harlem. I got on a Second
+Avenue car and rode out to Harlem; got off at the terminus, walked up a
+cross street and walked some distance to a bijou of a brown cottage,
+standing in shaded grounds, with sunny gleams and flower beds, and half
+covered by creeping roses, clematis, wisteria, and all that.
+
+"I went in, and was received by the beautiful being that you have known
+as Rose Flowers. She was dressed in some misty, cloud-like pale blue
+fabric that set off her blonde beauty to perfection. After we were
+seated and had talked some time, I telling her what light duties would
+be required of her--only the care of one good little girl of seven years
+old, and of a very mild old lady who was the only lady in the house, and
+of the old gentleman who was the head of the family, strict but just in
+all his dealings; and of our country house in the mountains and our town
+house in the State capital--and she expressing the greatest and frankest
+anxiety to become a member of such a happy, amiable, prosperous family,
+and declaring with childish boasting that she was quite competent to
+perform all the duties expected of her and would perform them
+conscientiously, I suddenly asked her for her references.
+
+"'I--I have not a friend in this world,' she said; and then in a timid
+voice, she asked: 'Are references indispensable?'
+
+"'Of course,' I answered
+
+"'Then the Lord help me! Nothing is left but the river. The river won't
+require references;' and with that she buried her little golden-haired
+head in the cushions of the sofa and burst into a perfect storm of sobs
+and tears. Now, Cora, what in the deuce was a man to do? I had never
+seen anything like that in all my life before. I had never seen a woman
+in such a fit before. All this was strange and horrible to me.
+
+"I am a middling strong old fellow, but that beautiful girl's despair
+upset me, and I never could hear any one hint suicide, and she talked of
+the river. The river would receive her without references. The river was
+kinder than her own fellow creatures! The river would give her a home
+and rest and peace! She only wanted to do honest work for her living,
+but human beings would not even let her work for them without
+references! And I declare to you, Cora, she was not acting, as you might
+suspect. She was in deadly earnest. Her sobs shook her whole frame.
+
+"At last I myself behaved like an ass. I went and knelt down beside her
+so as to get quite close to her, and I began to comfort her. I told her
+not to mind about the references; that she might have me for a reference
+all the days of her life; that she should have the situation at
+Rockhold, where I would convey her and introduce her on my own
+responsibility.
+
+"While I spoke to her I laid my hand on the little golden-haired head
+and smoothed it all the time. Out of pity, Cora, I assure you on my
+honor, out of pity. After a while her sobs seemed to subside slowly. I
+told her that her face was to me a sufficient recommendation in her
+favor, and all-sufficient testimonial of character; but that I must have
+her confidence in exchange for my own.
+
+"You see, Cora, I was very sorry for the poor, pretty creature, and was
+really anxious to befriend her; but also my curiosity was keenly piqued.
+I wished to know her private history, and so I assured her that she
+should have the position she wanted on the condition of telling me her
+antecedents.
+
+"At last she yielded, and told me the story of her short, willful life.
+This, then, was her poor, little, pathetic story.
+
+"Her name was Ann White. She was the daughter of Amos White, an English
+curate, living in a remote village in Northumberland, and of his first
+wife, who had died during the infancy of her youngest child, Ann, a year
+after which her father had married again. Ann's step-mother was one of
+the most beautiful women in England, and--one of the most discontented,
+as the wife of a widowed clergyman who was old enough to be her father,
+who had three sons and two daughters by a former marriage, and who was
+trying to support his family on a hundred pounds a year. Yet, so long as
+her father lived, Ann's childhood was happy. But her father, who had
+been a consumptive, also died when Ann was about seven years old. Then
+the family was broken up. The three step-sons went to seek their
+fortunes in New Zealand. The eldest step-daughter had been married and
+had gone to London a few months before her father's death; the younger
+step-daughter went to live with that married sister. Ann and her
+step-mother were permitted to remain at the parsonage until the
+successor of Amos White could be appointed. At last the new curate
+came--a handsome and accomplished man--Rev. Raphael Rosslynn. He was a
+bachelor, without near relatives. He called on the Widow White and at
+once set her heart at ease by begging her not to trouble herself to
+leave the parsonage, but to remain there for the present at least, and
+take him as a boarder. He was perfectly frank with the lovely widow, and
+told her that he was engaged to his own cousin, and that as soon as he
+should get a living promised him on the death of the present incumbent,
+and which was worth twelve hundred pounds a year, he should marry, but
+that he could not allow himself to anticipate happiness that must rise
+on a grave. But in the course of the year that which might have been
+expected happened, the young widow, who had never cared for her elderly
+first husband, fell desperately in love with her lodger, who was not
+very slow to respond, for her grace, beauty and allurements attracted,
+bewildered, and bedeviled him, so that he forgot or deplored his
+plighted vows to his good little cousin. To shorten the story, the
+cousin released him. In a few days the curate and the widow were
+married. Ann was utterly neglected, ignored, and forgotten. Her lessons,
+which, before the advent of the handsome curate, had been the widow's
+care, were now suspended. Time went on, and these ardent lovers cooled
+off. Not that their youth or health or beauty waned; not at all; but
+that their illusions were fading. Yet, as often happens, as love cooled,
+jealousy warmed to life--each one conscious of indifference toward the
+other, yet resented a corresponding indifference in the other. As years
+went on, six children were born to this unhappy pair, whom not the Lord
+but the devil had joined together, and with their increasing family came
+increasing poverty. It was hard to support a growing household on one
+hundred pounds a year.
+
+"In the seventh year of their marriage, in desperation, the Reverend
+Raphael advertised his ability and readiness to 'prepare young men for
+college.' He obtained but one pupil one Alfred Whyte, the son of a
+retired brewer. You perceive that he had the same surname with the young
+Ann, but it was spelled differently--with a _y_, instead of an _i_, as
+her name was. He seems to have been a fine, hearty, good natured young
+fellow, about twenty years of age, with a short, stout form, a round,
+red face, and dark eyes and hair. He hated study, but loved children,
+animals, and out-door sports. It was in the course of nature that he
+should fall in love with the fair fifteen-year-old beauty Ann White.
+
+"She returned his affection because since her father's death he was the
+only human being who had ever been kind to her. The first year that he
+spent at the parsonage was the happiest year Ann had ever known. Before
+it drew to an end, however, their happiness was clouded. The young man
+had over and over again assured the girl of his love for her, and at
+last he asked her to marry him. She consented. Then he wrote and asked
+permission of his father to wed the curate's step-daughter.
+
+"The answer might have been anticipated. The purse-proud retired brewer,
+who had dreams of his only son and heir going into Parliament and
+marrying some impoverished nobleman's daughter, wrote two furious
+letters, one to his son, commanding his immediate return home, and
+another to the Rev. Raphael Rosslynn, reproaching him with having
+entrapped his pupil into an engagement with his pauper step-daughter.
+
+"We can judge the effect of these letters upon the peace of the
+parsonage.
+
+"The Reverend Raphael commanded his pupil into his presence, and after
+severely censuring him for his conduct in 'betraying the confidence of
+the family who had received him into its bosom,' he requested that
+Master Whyte should leave the house with all convenient speed.
+
+"The youth urged that he had meant no harm and had done no harm, that he
+was honestly in love with the young lady, and had honestly asked leave
+to marry her, and that he certainly would marry her--
+
+    "'Though mammy and daddy and all gang mad.'
+
+"Mr. Rosslynn referred him to his father's letter and ordered him to
+depart. And then the reverend gentleman went to his wife's room and
+bitterly reproached her that her forward girl had been the cause of his
+losing his pupil and eighty pounds a year.
+
+"She told him that the fault was his own; that he should never have
+received a young man as a resident pupil in the house where there was a
+young girl.
+
+"A fierce quarrel ensued, which was ended at last by the reverend
+gentleman going out and banging the door behind him with a force that
+shook the house, and in a state of mind that rendered him singularly
+unfit to read the prayers for the sick beside the bed of a dying
+parishioner to whom he was urgently summoned.
+
+"Mrs. Rosslynn immediately hastened to wreak her vengeance on her
+step-daughter. She set her teeth as she seized the unlucky girl, whom
+she found at work in the kitchen, pushed her roughly on into the narrow
+passage up the steep stairs and into the little back loft that the child
+called her own bedroom.
+
+"Here she took a firmer grip upon the girl, and with a dog whip that she
+had hastily snatched from the hat rack in passing, she lashed the
+hapless creature over back and shoulder.
+
+"Ann never struggled or cried out, but held her tongue in fierce wrath
+and stubborn endurance. Could that woman, the victim of all ungovernable
+passions, have but known what she did, or foreseen its results!
+
+"At last she ceased, pushed the bruised and wounded child away from her,
+sank panting to a chair, and as soon as she recovered her breath, began
+to insult and abuse the orphan child of her deceased husband, charging
+her with disgracing the house by improper conduct, of which the girl had
+never even dreamed; accusing her of causing the loss of their pupil and
+the income derived from him, and reproaching her for making discord
+between herself (Mrs. Rosslynn) and her husband.
+
+"Ann replied by not one word.
+
+"At length the maddened woman, having talked herself out of breath, got
+up, left the room, and locked the door, not on her victim alone, but on
+all the evil spirits she had raised from Tartarus and left with the
+girl.
+
+"Ann sank upon the bed, weeping, moaning, and grinding her teeth, her
+body prostrated by pain, her soul filled with bitter wrath and scorn
+toward one whom she should rather have been led to love and honor. In
+the fiery torture of her flesh and the humiliation of her spirit she
+uttered but these piteous words:
+
+"'Oh, my own mother!--oh, my lost father! do you see your child?'
+
+"For more than an hour she lay there before the fierce smarting and
+burning of her scourged flesh began to subside. The short November
+afternoon darkened into night. No one came near her. The hour for supper
+passed. No one called her to the meal. She heard the family passing to
+their rooms. She heard her mother putting the other children to bed--a
+duty that she herself had hitherto performed. At last all sounds died
+away in the house, and she knew that all the inmates had retired, and
+the lights were out. She was meditating to run away; she did not know in
+what direction, or to what end, farther than to escape from the home
+that was hateful to her.
+
+"Evil spirits were with her, suggesting many desperate thoughts; at
+length they infused a deadly, horrible temptation to a deed of
+self-destruction so ghastly that its discovery should appal the family,
+the parish, and the whole world; that should cover her tormentors with
+shame, reproach and infamy.
+
+"She sprang up from her bed and went to search in the drawer of a little
+old wooden stand, until she found a half page of note paper and a bit of
+lead pencil.
+
+"She took them out and wrote to her persecutors, saying that she was
+going to throw herself--not into the sea, nor from a precipice, because
+both earth and sea give up their dead--but into the quicksands, which
+never give up anything; they, her tormentors, should never even see
+again the body they had bruised and torn and degraded; and she prayed
+that the Lord would ever deal by them as they had dealt with her.
+
+"It must have been near midnight when she heard a tap at her window, so
+light that at first she thought it was made by a large raindrop; but
+presently her name was softly called by a voice that she recognized.
+Then she understood it all, and her thoughts of the quicksands vanished.
+
+"Her room was a small one in the rear of the house, immediately over the
+back kitchen, and her back window opened upon the roof of the wood shed
+behind the kitchen. She went and hoisted the window, and there on the
+roof of the wood shed stood Alfred Whyte.
+
+"He told her that he had taken leave of the ogre and the ogress hours
+before, and they thought he was off to London by the four o'clock mail;
+but that he had gone no farther than the railway station, where he had
+bought a ticket, and had gone on the platform, as if to wait for his
+train; but when it came up, instead of taking his place on it, he had
+slipped away in the confusion of its arrival and had hidden himself in
+the woods on the other side of the road, where he had waited until it
+was dark, when he had come back to watch the parsonage until every one
+should have gone to bed, so that he could get speech with Ann.
+
+"And then he asked her if she were 'game for a bolt?"
+
+"She did not understand him; but when he next spoke plainly, and
+inquired if she would run away with him and be married, she answered
+promptly that she would.
+
+"He told her to get ready quickly, and to dress warmly, for the night
+was damp and cold, and to tie up a little bundle of things that she
+might need on the journey; but not to take much, because he had plenty
+of money, and could buy her all she needed.
+
+"'Much;' Poor little thing, she had not much to take! She put on her
+best dress--a well-worn blue serge--a coarse, black cloth walking
+jacket, and a little straw hat with a faded blue ribbon. She had no
+gloves. She tied up a hair brush, worn nearly to the wood, a tooth brush
+not much better, the half of a broken dressing comb, and one clean linen
+collar, in a small pocket handkerchief, and she was all ready for her
+wedding trip.
+
+"He told her to bolt her door before she came out, because that would
+take the ogres some little while to force it open, and would give the
+fugitives a better start.
+
+"Ann did everything her boy lover directed, and finally stepped out of
+the window on to the roof below, and joined him. He let down the window,
+and closed the shutters with a spring that securely fastened them.
+
+"That, he told her, would certainly give them a longer start, for it
+would take an hour at least to force the room open and discover her
+flight.
+
+"Then they left the parsonage together.
+
+"She had forgotten all about the parting note of malediction which she
+had left behind her on the stand, as she stepped along the lane leading
+to the highway.
+
+"He asked her to take his arm, and when they reached the public road, he
+inquired if she were game for a ten mile walk.
+
+"She told him that she could walk to the end of the world with him,
+because she was so happy to be beside the only one on earth who had ever
+been kind to her--since her father's death.
+
+"Then he explained the steps that he had taken, and must still take, to
+elude pursuit; how that he had gone to the railway station and bought a
+first class ticket for the four o'clock express to London, and
+afterward, when the train came up, he had mingled with the crowd getting
+off and getting on, and so eluded observation, and had slipped away and
+hidden himself in the thicket until dark, so as to make every one
+concerned believe that he had gone off by the mail train alone to
+London.
+
+"Now he told her that they must trudge straight on ten miles north, to
+take the train to Glasgow; so that while people were hunting for them in
+the south, they would be safe in the north.
+
+"As they walked on he told her that he wanted to get away from England
+and see the world--the new world across the ocean. He had seen Europe
+summer after summer, traveling with his father and mother on the
+Continent. Now he wanted to see America; and asked her if she did not
+also.
+
+"She told him that she wanted to see every place that he wanted to see,
+and to go everywhere he wanted to go, for that he was the only friend
+she had in all the wide world.
+
+"So they walked on for about three hours, and then, about two o'clock in
+the morning, they reached the little railway station of Skelton. They
+had to wait two hours for the parliamentary train, which came heavily
+puffing in about five o'clock on that November morning.
+
+"Young Whyte took second class tickets, and led his closely veiled
+companion to her seat on the train. And they moved off.
+
+"They reached Glasgow about ten o'clock the next day, and found that
+there was a steamer bound for New York, to sail at noon. No time was to
+be lost, so they both went to the agency together, represented
+themselves as a newly married pair, and engaged the only stateroom to
+be procured--which happened to be in the second cabin. Their tickets
+were filled in with the names of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Whyte--which indeed
+constituted a legal marriage in Scotland, where a marriageable pair of
+lovers have only to declare themselves man and wife, in the presence of
+competent witnesses, to be as lawfully married as if the ceremony had
+been performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in his own cathedral.
+
+"They took possession of their stateroom on the Caledonian, which sailed
+at noon of the same day, and in due time arrived at New York.
+
+"They spent two days at an uptown hotel, and then took the pretty
+cottage at Harlem, in which they lived for several months. Ann's
+boy-husband often told her that she grew prettier every day, and he
+seemed to grow fonder of her every day. He supplied her with a nicer
+outfit of clothing and more pocket money than she had ever had in her
+poverty-stricken life, and made her much happier every way than she had
+ever been before, as long as his money lasted.
+
+"He had left England with nearly one hundred pounds in his pocket--the
+amount of his half-yearly allowance.
+
+"On his arrival in New York, he had written to his father and confessed
+his marriage with his tutor's step-daughter and begged forgiveness
+and--remittances.
+
+"Ann declined to write to her step-mother or the curate, declaring that
+she preferred that they should believe that she had been driven by their
+cruelty to bury herself in the quicksands, and that they should suffer
+all the remorse of conscience and reprobation of society that their
+conduct toward her deserved.
+
+"But weeks passed, on and no letter filled with blessings and bank
+notes came from the offended and obdurate father, though the boy
+constantly assured his girl-wife that the expected epistle would surely
+come in time, for he was the 'old man's' only son, whom he would not be
+likely to discard.
+
+"Meanwhile their money was running low. The youth was anxious to travel
+and see the new world, and to take his bride with him, but he could not
+do so without funds. At the end of six weeks after he had written the
+first letter to his father he wrote a second, but received no answer;
+later still he wrote a third, with no better success.
+
+"They had gone a little into debt, in order to eke out their little
+ready money until the longed-for letters of credit should come from
+England; but at the end of six months credit and cash were nearly
+exhausted.
+
+"One morning in May the boy-husband took leave of the girl-wife, saying,
+as he kissed her good-by, that he was going down into the city to see if
+he could get some work to do.
+
+"Without the least misgiving, she received his farewell kiss, and saw
+him depart--watched him all the way down the street, until he got to
+Second Avenue and boarded a down-town car.
+
+"Then she re-entered the little gate, and began to tend the jonquils and
+hyacinths that were just coming into bloom in her little flower garden.
+She did not expect to see him until night, nor--did she see him even
+then. When the little gate opened at eight o'clock and a man came up the
+walk leading to the front door at which she stood, he was not her
+husband, but the letter carrier, who put a letter in her hand and went
+away.
+
+"She ran into the house, and lighted the gas to read her letter. Though
+it gave her a shock, it did not shake her faith in her boy.
+
+"The letter told her, in effect, that Alfred Whyte, when he left her
+that morning, had started to go to England in the only way by which he
+could get there--that is, by working his passage as a deck hand on board
+an outward bound ship; that he had decided on this course so as to get a
+personal interview with his father, to whom he would go as a penitent
+prodigal son; for he was sure of obtaining by this means forgiveness,
+and assistance that would enable him to return and bring his little wife
+back to England, where they would thenceforth live in comfort and
+luxury; that the reason he had not confided to her his intention of
+making the voyage was because he dreaded opposition from her that might
+have led him to abandon the one plan by which he hoped to better their
+condition.
+
+"He concluded by entreating her not to think for one instant that he
+intended to desert her, who was dearer to him than his own life, but to
+trust in him as he trusted in her. In a postscript he told her where to
+find the small balance of money they had left, as he had only taken
+enough for his car fare to the city. In a second postscript he promised
+to write by every opportunity. In a third and last postscript he begged
+her to keep up her heart.
+
+"It seemed a frank letter, yet it was reticent upon one point--the name
+of the ship on which he had sailed. This omission might have been
+accidental. It certainly did not raise any doubt of the boy's good faith
+in the mind of the girl.
+
+"She cried a great deal over the separation from her lad, and she made a
+confidant of the elderly Irishwoman who was her sole servant.
+
+"After two weeks, Ann began to watch daily for the letter carrier, in
+hope of getting a letter from Alfred; but day after day, week after
+week, passed and none came. But there came news of the wreck of the
+Porpoise, which had sailed from New York for London on the very day that
+Alfred Whyte had left the country--and which had gone down in a storm in
+mid-ocean with all on board.
+
+"But as numerous ships had left New York on that day bound for various
+British ports, it was impossible to discover whether the boy was on
+board, or if he shipped under his own name or an assumed one.
+
+"Ann cried more than ever for a few days, but then seemed to give up her
+lad for lost, and to resign herself to the 'inevitable.'
+
+"She wrote to Mr. Alfred Whyte, Senior, but got no reply to her letter;
+again and again she wrote with no better success. The little balance of
+money left by her boy-husband was all gone. She began to sell off the
+trifles of jewelry that he had given her.
+
+"One morning the letter carrier left a letter with a London postmark
+containing a bill of exchange for a hundred pounds, and not one word
+besides.
+
+"Had it come from her boy-husband, or from his father? She could not
+tell.
+
+"Well, to be brief, she never saw nor heard of him again. She lived
+comfortably with her motherly old servant, enjoyed life thoroughly and
+grew more beautiful every day, and this fool's paradise lasted as long
+as her money did. Before her last dollar was gone, she saw the
+advertisement in the _Pursuivant_ for a nursery governess, and answered
+it, as has been told.
+
+"This, my dear Cora, is the substance of the story told me by Ann White
+on the day that I called on her in answer to her letter. What do you
+think of it?" inquired Mr. Fabian when he had finished his narrative.
+
+"I think the cruel neglect of her step-parents and the sufferings of her
+childhood accountable for all her faults, and I feel very sorry for
+her, notwithstanding that she seems to be a very heartless animal,"
+replied Corona.
+
+"That is the secret of the wonderful preservation of her youth and
+beauty even up to this present time. Nothing wears a woman out as fast
+as her own heart."
+
+"You engaged her as you promised to do, but why did you introduce her at
+Rockhold as a single girl, and why under an alias?" gravely inquired
+Corona.
+
+"I introduced her as a single girl at her own request because of her
+extreme youth and her timidity. She naturally shrank from being known as
+a discarded wife or a doubtful widow. Besides, I never did say she was a
+single girl. I merely presented her as Rose Flowers, and left it to be
+inferred from her baby face that she was so."
+
+"But why Rose Flowers when her name was Ann White?"
+
+"What a cross-questioner you are, Corona! but I will answer you. Again
+it was by her own desire that I presented her as Rose Flowers, which was
+not an alias, as she explained to me, but a part of her true name. She
+had been baptized as Rose Anna Flowers, which was the maiden name of her
+grandmother, her father's mother."
+
+Cora might have asked another question, not so easily answered, if she
+had known the circumstances to which it related, namely: why Mr. Fabian
+had fabricated that false story of the young governess which he palmed
+upon his parents; but, in fact, Cora, at that time a child seven years
+old, had never heard of it. But she made another inquiry.
+
+"What became of Rose Flowers after she left us? Did she really go to
+another place? Who was--Captain Stillwater?"
+
+"Mr. Fabian drove slowly and thoughtfully on without answering her
+question until she had repeated it. Then he said:
+
+"Cora, my dear, that is a story I cannot tell you. Let it be enough for
+me to say, the Stillwater episode in the life of this lady is the ground
+upon which I forbid my wife to visit her and object to my niece
+associating with her."
+
+"Does Violet know the Stillwater story?"
+
+"No; not so much of it even as you have heard. Now, look here, Cora, you
+think it inconsistent perhaps that I should have brought this woman to
+Rockhold years ago to become your governess, and now, when she is my
+father's wife, object to your intimacy with her. In the first instance
+she has been far, very far, 'more sinned against than sinning;' she had
+been very imprudent, that was all. She was really the wife, by Scotch
+law, of the boy she ran away with and then lost. I saw nothing in her
+case that ought to prevent her entrance into a respectable family, and
+Heaven knows I pitied her and tried to save her by bringing her to
+Rockhold. I saved her only for a few years. After she left us--but
+there, I cannot tell you that story! You must not be intimate with her."
+
+"Yet she is my grandfather's wife!"
+
+"An irreparable misfortune. I can't expose her life to him; such a blow
+to his pride might be his death, at his age. No! events must take their
+course; but I hope he will not take her to any place where she is likely
+to be recognized. Nor do I think he will. He is aging fast, and will be
+likely to live quietly at Rockhold."
+
+"And I think she also would avoid such risks. She was terribly
+frightened when she recognized the Dean of Olivet. Was he really her
+stepfather, the once poor curate?"
+
+"Yes. You see while they were lionizing him in the Eastern cities, his
+portrait, with a short biographical notice, was published in one of the
+illustrated weeklies, where I read of him, and identified him by
+comparing notes with what I had heard."
+
+"How came he to rise so high?"
+
+"Oh, he was a learned divine and eloquent orator. He was well connected,
+too. It would seem that a very few months after his step-daughter's
+flight he was inducted into that rich living for which he had been
+waiting so many years. From that position his rise was slow indeed,
+covering a period of twenty years, until a few months ago, when he was
+made Dean of Olivet."
+
+"To think that a man capable of quarreling with his wife and ill-using
+their step-child should fill so sacred a position in the church!"
+exclaimed Cora.
+
+"Yes; but you see, my dear, the church is his profession, not his
+vocation. He is a brilliant pulpit orator, with influential friends; but
+every brilliant pulpit orator is not necessarily a saint. And as for his
+quarreling with his wife and ill-using their step-daughter, we have
+heard but one side of that story."
+
+When they entered the Rockhold drawing room they found Mrs. Rockharrt
+alone. She arose and came forward and received them with a smile.
+
+"Your grandfather, my dear," she explained to Cora, "came home later
+than usual from North End, and very much more than usually fatigued.
+Immediately after dinner he lay down and I left him asleep."
+
+"Where is Uncle Clarence?" inquired Corona.
+
+"He remains at the works for the night. Will you have this chair, love?"
+said Rose, pulling forward a luxurious "sleepy hollow."
+
+"No, thank you. I must go to my room and change my dress. Will you
+excuse me for half an hour, Uncle Fabian?" inquired Cora.
+
+"Most willingly, my dear," replied Mr. Fabian, with a very pleased
+look. Cora left the room.
+
+"I will go with you," exclaimed Rose, turning pale and starting up to
+follow the young lady.
+
+"No. You will not," said Mr. Fabian, in a tone of authority, as he laid
+his hand heavily on the woman's shoulder. "Sit down. I have something to
+say to you."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXII.
+
+FABIAN AND ROSE.
+
+
+"What do you mean?"
+
+"I should rather ask what do you mean, or rather what did you mean, by
+daring to marry any honest man, and of all men--Aaron Rockharrt? It was
+the most audacious challenging of destruction that the most reckless
+desperado could venture upon." Fabian Rockharrt continued, mercilessly:
+
+"Do you not know what, if Mr. Rockharrt were to discover the deception
+you put upon him, he might do and think himself justified in doing to
+you?"
+
+Rose shuddered in silence.
+
+"The very least that he would do would be to turn you out of his house,
+without a dollar, and shut his doors on you forever. Then what would
+become of you? Who would take you in?"
+
+"Oh, Fabian!" she screamed at last. "Do not talk to me so. You will
+frighten me into hysterics."
+
+"Now don't make a noise. For if you do, you will precipitate the
+catastrophe that you fear. Be quiet, I beg you," said Mr. Fabian,
+composedly, putting his thumbs in his vest pockets and leaning back.
+
+"Why do you say such cruel things to me, then? Such inconsistent
+things, too. If I was good enough to marry you, I was good enough to
+marry your father."
+
+"But you were never good enough to marry either of us, my dear. If you
+will take a little time to reflect on your antecedents, you will
+acknowledge that you were not quite good enough to marry any honest
+man," said Mr. Fabian, coolly.
+
+"Yet you asked me to marry you," she said, sobbing softly, with her
+handkerchief to her eyes.
+
+"Beg pardon, my dear. I think the asking was rather on the other side.
+You were very urgent that we should be married, and that our betrothal
+should be formally announced."
+
+"Yes; because you led me to believe that you were going to marry me."
+
+"Excuse me. I never led you to believe so, simply allowed you to believe
+so. What could a gentleman do under the circumstances? He couldn't
+contradict a lady."
+
+"Oh, what a prevarication, Fabian Rockharrt, when every word, every
+deed, every look you bestowed on me went to assure me that you loved me
+and wished to marry me!"
+
+"Softly, my dear. Softly. I was sorry for you and generous to you. I
+gave you the use of a pretty little house and a sufficient income during
+good behavior. But you were ungrateful to me, Rose. You were unkind to
+me."
+
+"I was not. I would have married you. I could not have done more than
+that."
+
+"But, my dear, your good sense must have told you that I could not marry
+you. I have done the best I could by you always. Twice I rescued you
+from ruin. Once when you were but little more than a child, and your
+boy-lover, or husband, had left you alone, a young stranger in a
+strange land--a girl friendless, penniless, beautiful, and so in deadly
+peril of perdition, I took you on your own representation, and
+introduced you into my own family as the governess of my niece. I became
+responsible for you."
+
+"And did I not try my best to please everybody?" sobbed the woman.
+
+"That you did," heartily responded Mr. Fabian. "And everybody loved you.
+So that, at the end of five years' service, when my niece was to enter a
+finishing school, and you were to go to another situation, you took with
+you the best testimonials from my father and mother and from the
+minister of our parish. But you did not keep your second situation
+long."
+
+"How could I? I was but half taught. The Warrens would have had me teach
+their children French and German, and music on the harp and the piano. I
+knew no language but my own, and no music except that of the piano,
+which the dear, gentle lady, your mother, taught me out of the kindness
+of her heart. I was told that I must leave at the end of the term. And
+my term was nearly out when Captain Stillwater became a daily visitor to
+the house, and I saw him every evening. He was a tall, handsome man,
+with a dark complexion and black hair and beard. And I always did admire
+that sort of a man. Indeed, that was the reason why I always admired
+you."
+
+"Don't attempt to flatter me."
+
+"I am not flattering anybody. I am telling you why I liked Captain
+Stillwater. And he was always so good to me! I told him all my troubles.
+And he sympathized with me! And when I told him that I should be obliged
+to leave my situation at the end of the quarter, he bade me never mind.
+And he asked me to be his wife. I did consent to be his wife. I was glad
+of the chance to get a husband, and a home. So all was arranged. He
+advised me not to tell the Warrens that we were to be married, however.
+So at the end of my quarter I went away to a hotel, where Captain
+Stillwater came for me and took me away to the church where we were
+married."
+
+"You had no knowledge that Alfred Whyte was dead, and that you were free
+to wed!"
+
+"He had been lost seven years and was as good as dead to me! Besides,
+when a man is missing and has; not been heard of for seven years, his
+wife is free to marry again, is she not?"
+
+"No. She has good grounds for a divorce that is all! To risk a second
+marriage without these legal formalities, would be dangerous! Might be
+disastrous! The first husband might turn up and make trouble!"
+
+"I did not know that! But, after all, as it turned out, it did not
+matter!" sighed Rose.
+
+"Not in the least!" assented Mr. Fabian, amiably.
+
+"After all, it was not my fault! I married him in good faith; I did,
+indeed!"
+
+"Did you tell him of your previous marriage? That is what you have not
+told me yet!"
+
+"N-n-no; I was afraid if I did he might break off with me."
+
+"Ah!"
+
+"And I was in such extremity for the want of a home!"
+
+"Had not my father and mother told you that if ever you should find
+yourself out of a situation, you should come to them? Why did you not
+take them at their word? They had always been very kind to you, and they
+would have given you a warm welcome and a happy home. Now, why need you
+have rushed into a reckless marriage for a home?"
+
+"Oh, Fabian!" she exclaimed, impatiently, "don't pretend to talk like
+an idiot, for you are not one! Don't talk to me as if I were a wax doll
+or a wooden woman, for you know I am not one!"
+
+"I am sure I do not know what you mean!"
+
+"Well, then, I loved the man! There, it is out! I loved him more than I
+ever loved any one else in the whole world! And I was afraid of losing
+him!"
+
+"And so it was because you loved him so well that you deceived him so
+much!"
+
+"Didn't he deceive me much more?"
+
+"There were a pair of you--well matched! So well, it seems a pity that
+you were parted!"
+
+"Oh, how very unkind you are to me!"
+
+"Not yet unkind! Only waiting to see how you are going to behave!"
+
+"I have never behaved badly! I was not wicked; I was unhappy! Unhappy
+from my birth, almost! I had no evil designs against anybody. I only
+wanted to be happy and to see people happy. I honestly believed I was
+lawfully married to Captain Stillwater. He took me to the Wirt House and
+registered our names as Mr. and Mrs. Stillwater. And we were very happy
+until his ship sailed. He gave me plenty of money before he went away;
+but I was heartbroken to part with him, and could take no pleasure in
+anything until I got a little used to his absence."
+
+"I think you told me that you met him once more before your final
+separation. When was that meeting? Eh?"
+
+"Fabian Rockharrt, are you trying to catch me in a falsehood? You know
+very well that I never told you anything of the sort I told you that I
+never saw him again after he sailed away that autumn day! I waited all
+the autumn and heard nothing from him, I wrote to him often, but none
+of my letters were answered. At length I longed so much to see him that
+I grew wild and reckless and resolved to follow him. I took passage in
+the second cabin of the Africa and sailed for Liverpool, where I arrived
+about the middle of December. I went to the agency of the Blue Star
+Line, to which his ship belonged, and inquired where he was to be found.
+They told me he had sailed for Calcutta and had taken his wife with him!
+It turned me to stone--to stone, Fabian--almost! I remember I sat down
+on a bench and felt numb and cold. And then I asked how long he had been
+married--hoping, if it was true, that my own was the first and the
+lawful union. They told me, for ten years, but as they had no family,
+his wife usually accompanied him on all his voyages. So she had now gone
+with him to Calcutta."
+
+"I suspect the people in that office were pretty well acquainted with
+the handsome skipper's 'ways and manners,' and that they understood your
+case at once."
+
+"I do really believe they did," said Rose; "for they looked at me so
+strangely, and one man, who seemed to be a porter or a messenger, or
+something of that sort, said something about a sailor having a wife at
+every port."
+
+"So after that you came back to New York, and did, at last, what you
+should have done at first--you wrote to me."
+
+"There was no one on earth to whom, under the peculiar circumstances, I
+could have written but to you. Oh, Fabian! to whom else could I appeal?"
+
+"And did I not respond promptly to your call?"
+
+"Indeed you did, like a true knight, as you were. And I did not deceive
+you by any false story, Fabian. I told you all--even thing--how basely I
+had been deceived--and you soothed and consoled me, and told me that,
+as I had not sinned intentionally, I had not sinned at all; and you
+brought me with you to the State capital, and established me comfortably
+there."
+
+"But you were very ungrateful, my dear. You took everything; gave
+nothing."
+
+"I would have given you myself in marriage, but you would not have me.
+You did not think me good enough for you."
+
+"But, bless my wig, child! for your age you had been too much married
+already--a great deal too much married! You got into the habit of
+getting married."
+
+"Oh! how merciless you are to me!" Rose said, beginning to weep.
+
+"No; I am not. I have never been unkind to you--as yet. I don't know
+what I may be! My course toward you will depend very much upon yourself.
+Have I not always hitherto been your best friend? Ungrateful,
+unresponsive though you were at that time, did I not procure for you an
+invitation from my mother to accompany her party on that long,
+delightful summer trip?"
+
+"I had an impression at the time that I owed the invitation to your
+father, who suggested to your mother to write and ask me to accompany
+them."
+
+Mr. Fabian looked surprised, and said--for he never hesitated to tell a
+fib:
+
+"Oh! that was quite a mistake. It was I myself who suggested the
+invitation. I thought it would be agreeable to you. Was it not I myself
+who sent you forward in advance to the Wirt House, Baltimore, there to
+await the arrival of our party, and join us in our summer travel? And
+didn't you have a long, delightful tour with us through the most sublime
+scenery in the most salubrious climates on earth? Didn't you return a
+perfect Hebe in health and bloom?"
+
+"I acknowledge all that. I acknowledge all my obligations to your
+family; but at the same time I declare that I also did my part. I was as
+a white slave to your parents. I was lady's maid to your mother, foot
+boy to your father. I don't know, indeed, what the old people would have
+done without me, for no hired servant could have served them as
+faithfully as I did."
+
+"Oh, yes; you were grateful and devoted to all the family except to me,
+your best friend--to me, who gave you the use of a lovely home, and a
+liberal income, and a faithful friendship; and then trusted in your
+sense of justice for my reward."
+
+"I would have given you all I possessed in the world--my own poor self
+in marriage--and you led me on to believe that you wished to marry me,
+but, finally, you would not have me. You went off and married another
+woman."
+
+"Bah! we are talking around in a circle, and getting back to where we
+began. Let us come to the point."
+
+"Very well; come to the point," said Rose, sulkily.
+
+"Listen, then: It is not for your reckless elopement with your
+step-father's pupil, when you were driven from home by cruelty; it is
+not for your false marriage with Stillwater, when you yourself were
+deceived; but because with all these antecedents against
+you--antecedents which constituted you, however unjustly, a pariah, who
+should have lived quietly and obscurely, but who, instead of doing so,
+took advantage of kindness shown her, and betrayed the family who
+sheltered her by luring into a disgraceful marriage its revered father,
+and bringing to deep dishonor the gray head of Aaron Rockharrt, a man of
+stern integrity and unblemished reputation--you should be denounced and
+punished."
+
+"Oh, Fabian, have mercy! have mercy! You would not now, after years of
+friendship, you would not now ruin me?"
+
+"Listen to me! You checkmated me in that matter of the cottage and the
+income. Yes, simple as you seem, and sharp as I may appear, you
+certainly managed to take all and give nothing. And when you found but
+that you could not take my hand and my name, you waylaid me at the
+railway station, when I was on my wedding tour, and you swore to be
+revenged. I laughed at you. I advised you to be anything rather than
+dramatic. I never imagined the possibility of your threatened revenge
+taking the form of your marriage. Well, my dear, you have your revenge,
+I admit; but in your blindness, you could not see that revenge itself
+might be met by retribution! One man kills another for revenge, and does
+not, in his blind fury, see the gallows looming in the distance."
+
+"What do you mean? You cannot hang me for marrying your father,"
+exclaimed Rose.
+
+"No; don't raise your voice, or you may be heard. No, Rose, I cannot
+hang you for treachery; but, my dear, there are worse fates than neat
+and tidy hanging, which is over in a few minutes. I could expose your
+past life to my father. You know him, and you know that he would show no
+ruth, no mercy to deception and treachery such as yours. You know that
+he would turn you out of the house without money or character, destitute
+and degraded. What then would be your fate at your age--a fading rose
+past thirty-seven years old? Sooner or later, and very little later, the
+poor-house or the hospital. Better a sweet, tidy little hanging and be
+done with it, if possible."
+
+"You are a fiend to talk to me so! a fiend! Fabian Rockharrt," exclaimed
+Rose, bursting into hysterical sobs and tears.
+
+"Now, be quiet, my child; you'll raise the house, and then there will be
+an explosion."
+
+"I don't care if there will be. You are cruel, savage, barbarous! I
+never meant to do any harm by marrying Mr. Rockharrt. I never meant to
+be revenged on you or anybody. I only said so because I was so excited
+by your desertion of me. I married the old gentleman for a refuge from
+the world. I meant to do my duty by him, though he is as cross as a bear
+with a bruised head. But do your worst; I don't care. I would just as
+lief die as live. I am tired of trying to be good; tired of trying to
+please people; tired, oh, very tired of living!"
+
+"Come, come," said soft-hearted Mr. Fabian; "none of that nonsense.
+Place yourself in my hands, to be guided by me and to work for my
+interests, and none of these evils shall happen to you. You shall live
+and die in wealth and luxury, my father's honored wife, the mistress of
+Rockhold."
+
+He spoke slowly, tenderly, caressingly, and as she listened to him her
+sobs and tears subsided and she grew calmer.
+
+"What is it you want me to do for you? What can I do for you, indeed,
+powerless as I am?" she inquired at last.
+
+"You must use all your influence with my father in my interests, and use
+it discreetly and perseveringly," he whispered.
+
+"But I have no influence. Never was the young wife of an old man--and I
+am young in comparison to him--treated so harshly. I am not his pet; I
+am his slave!" she complained.
+
+"But you must obtain influence over him. You can do that. You are with
+him night and day when he is not at his business. You are his
+shadow--beg pardon, I ought to have said his sunshine."
+
+"I am his slave, I tell you."
+
+"Then be his humble, submissive, obedient slave; betray no
+disappointment, discontent, or impatience at your lot. The harsher he
+is, the humbler must you be; the more despotic he becomes, the more
+subservient you must seem. Make yourself so perfectly complying in all
+his moods that he shall believe you to be the very 'perfect rose of
+womanhood,' more excellent even than he thought when he married you, and
+so as he grows older and weaker in mind as well as body you will gain
+not only influence but ascendency over him, and these you must use in my
+interest."
+
+"But how? I don't understand."
+
+"Pay attention, then, and you will understand Mr. Rockharrt is aged. In
+the course of nature he must soon pass away. Fie has made no will.
+Should he die intestate, the whole property, by the laws of this
+commonwealth, would fall to pieces; that is to say, it would be divided
+into three parts--one-third would go to you--"
+
+Rose started, caught her breath, and stared at the speaker; the greed of
+gain dilating her great blue eyes. The third of the Rockharrt's fabulous
+wealth to be hers at her husband's death! Amazing! How many millions or
+tens of millions would that be? Incredible! And all for her, and she
+with, perhaps, half a century of life to live and enjoy it! What a
+vista!
+
+"Why do you stare at me so?" demanded Mr. Fabian.
+
+"Because I was so surprised. That is not the law in England. In England
+there are usually what are called marriage settlements, which make a
+suitable provision for the wife, but leave the bulk of the property to
+go to the children--generally to the oldest son."
+
+"And such should be the law here, but it isn't; and so if my father
+should die without having made a will, the great estate would break, as
+I said, into three parts--one part would be yours, the other two parts
+would be divided into three shares, to me, to my brother, and to the
+heirs of my sister. The business at North End would probably be carried
+on by Aaron Rockharrt's sons."
+
+"But would not that be equitable?" inquired Rose, who had no mind to
+have her third interfered with.
+
+"It would not be expedient, nor is such a disposition of his property
+the intention of Aaron Rockharrt. I know, from what he has occasionally
+hinted, that he means to bequeath the Great North End Works to me and my
+brother Clarence, share and share alike; but he puts off making this
+will, which indeed must never be made. The North End Works should not be
+a monster with two heads, but a colossus with one head with my head. So
+that I wish my father to make a will leaving the North End Works to me
+exclusively--to me alone as the one head."
+
+"I think if I dared to suggest such a thing to him, he would take off my
+head!" said Rose, with grim humor.
+
+"I think he would if you should do so suddenly or clumsily. But you must
+insinuate the idea very slowly and subtlely. Clarence is not for the
+works; Clarence is too good for this world--at least for the business of
+this world. I think him half an imbecile! My father does not hesitate to
+call him a perfect idiot. Do you begin to see your way now? Clarence can
+be moderately provided for, but should have no share in the North End
+Works."
+
+"The North End Works to be left to you solely; Clarence to be moderately
+provided for; and what of the two children of the late Mrs. Haught?"
+
+"Oh! my father never intends to leave them more than a modest legacy.
+They have each inherited money from their father. No; understand me
+once for all, Rose. I must be the sole heir of all my father's wealth,
+with the exceptions I have named, and the sole successor to his
+business, without any exception whatever. You must live, serve him and
+bear with him only to obtain such an ascendency over him as to induce
+him to make such a will as I have dictated to you. You can do this. You
+can insinuate it so subtlely that he will never suspect the suggestion
+came from you. I say you can do this, and you must do it. The woman who
+could deceive and entrap old Aaron Rockharrt, the Iron King, into
+matrimony, can do anything else in the world that she pleases to do with
+him if only she will be as subtle, as patient, and as complacent to him
+after marriage as she had been before marriage."
+
+"If Clarence is to be so provided for, Cora and Sylvan to have modest
+legacies, and you to have the huge bulk of the estate--where is my third
+to come from?"
+
+"Why, my dear, I could never let you have so vast a slice out of the
+mammoth fortune! Your third of the estate must follow Clarence's share
+of the business--into nothingness. You must play magnanimity, sacrifice
+your third, and content yourself with a suitable provision," said
+Fabian, equably.
+
+"I will never do that! I would not do it to save your life, Fabian
+Rockharrt!"
+
+"Oh, yes, you will, my darling. Not to save my life, but to save
+yourself from being denounced to Mr. Rockharrt, and turned out of this
+house, destitute and degraded."
+
+"I don't care if I should be! Do you think me quite a baby in your
+hands? I have been reflecting since you have been talking to me. I have
+been remembering that you told me that the law gives the widow one third
+of her late husband's property when he dies intestate, and entitles her
+to it, no matter what sort of a will he makes."
+
+"Unless there has been a settlement, my angel," said Mr. Fabian,
+composedly.
+
+"Well, there has been no settlement in my case. So whether Aaron
+Rockharrt should die intestate, or whether he should make a will, I am
+sure of my lawful third. So I defy you, Mr. Fabian Rockharrt. You may
+denounce me to your father He may turn me out of doors without a penny,
+and 'without a character,' as the servants say, but he cannot divorce
+me, because I have been faithful to him ever since our marriage. I could
+compel him by law to support me, even though he might not let me share
+his home. He would be obliged by law to give me alimony in proportion to
+his income, and, oh! what a magnificent revenue that would be for
+me--with freedom from his tyranny into the bargain! And at his death,
+which could not be long coming at his age, and after such a shock as his
+dutiful son proposes to give him, I should come in for my third. And,
+oh, where so rich a widow as I should be! With forty or fifty years of
+life before me in which to enjoy my fortune! Ah, you see, my clever Mr.
+Fabian Rockharrt, though you frightened me out of self-possession at
+first, when I come to think over the situation, I find that you can do
+me no great harm. If you should put your threats in execution and bring
+about a violent separation between myself and my husband, you would do
+me a signal favor, for I should gain my personal freedom, with a
+handsome alimony during his life, and at his death a third of his vast
+estate," she concluded, snapping her fingers in his face.
+
+"I think not."
+
+"Yes; I would."
+
+"No; you would not."
+
+"Indeed! Why would I not, pray?" she inquired, with mocking
+incredulity.
+
+"Oh, because of a mere trifle in your code of morals--an insignificant
+impediment."
+
+"Tchut!" she exclaimed, contemptuously. "Do you think me quite an
+idiot?"
+
+"I think you would be much worse than an idiot if, in case of my
+father's discarding you, you should move an inch toward obtaining
+alimony or in the case of the coveted 'third.'"
+
+"Pshaw! Why, pray?"
+
+"Because you have not, and never can have, the shadow of a right to
+either."
+
+"Bah! why not?"
+
+"Because--Alfred Whyte is living!"
+
+She caught her breath and gazed at the speaker with great dilating blue
+eyes.
+
+"What--do--you--mean?" she faltered.
+
+"Alfred Whyte, your husband of twenty years ago, is still living and
+likely to live--a very handsome man of forty years old, residing at his
+magnificent country seat, Whyte Hall, Dulwich, near London."
+
+"Married again?" she whispered, hoarsely.
+
+"Certainly not; an English gentleman does not commit bigamy."
+
+"How did you--become acquainted--with these facts?"
+
+"I was sufficiently interested in you to seek him out, when I was in
+England. I discovered where he lived; also that he was looking out for
+the best investment of his idle capital. I called on him personally in
+the interests of our great enterprise. He is now a member of the London
+syndicate."
+
+"Did you speak--of me?"
+
+"Never mentioned your name. How could I, knowing as I did of the
+Stillwater episode in your story?"
+
+"And he lives! Alfred Whyte lives! Oh, misery, misery, misery! Evil fate
+has followed me all the days of my life," moaned Rose, wringing her
+hands.
+
+"Now, why should you take on so, because Whyte is living? Would you have
+had that fine, vigorous man, in the prime of his life, die for your
+benefit?"
+
+"But I thought he was dead long ago."
+
+"You were too ready to believe that, and to console yourself. He was
+more faithful to your memory."
+
+"How do you know? You said my name was never mentioned between you."
+
+"Not from him, but from a mutual acquaintance, of whom I asked how it
+was that Mr. Whyte had never married, I heard that he had grieved for
+her out of all reason and had ever remained faithful to the memory of
+his first and only love. My own inference was, and is, that the report
+of your death was got up by his friends to break off the connection."
+
+"And you never told this 'mutual friend' that I still lived?"
+
+"How could I, my dear, with my knowledge of your Stillwater affair? No,
+no; I was not going to disturb the peace of a good man by telling him
+that his child-wife of twenty years ago was still living, but lost to
+him by a fall far worse than death. No--I let you remain dead to him."
+
+"Oh, misery! misery! misery! I would to Heaven I were dead to everybody!
+dead, dead indeed!" she cried, wringing her hands in anguish.
+
+"Come, come, don't be a fool! You see that you are utterly in my power
+and must do my will. Do it, and you will come to no harm; but live and
+die in a luxurious home."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIII.
+
+SYLVAN'S ORDERS.
+
+
+While the amiable Mr. Fabian was engaged in soothing the woman whom he
+was resolved to make his instrument in gaining the whole of his father's
+great business bequeathed to him by will, carriage wheels were heard
+grating on the gravel of the drive leading up to the front door of the
+house, and a few minutes afterward the master's knock was answered by
+the hall waiter, and old Aaron Rockharrt strode into the drawing room.
+
+"I did not know that you had gone out again. I left you on the library
+sofa asleep," said Rose, deferentially, as she sprang up to meet him.
+
+"I was called out on business that don't concern you. Ah, Fabian! How is
+it that I find you here to-night?" inquired the Iron King, as he threw
+himself into a chair.
+
+"I brought Cora home from the Banks," replied the eldest son.
+
+"Ah! how is Mrs. Fabian?"
+
+"Still delicate. I can scarcely hope that she will be stronger for some
+weeks yet."
+
+"When are you going to bring her to call on my wife?" demanded the Iron
+King, bending his gray brows somewhat angrily and looking suspiciously
+on his son; for he was not pleased that his daughter-in-law's visit of
+ceremony had been so long delayed.
+
+"As soon as she is able to leave the house. Our physician has forbidden
+her to take any long walk or ride for some time yet."
+
+"And how long is this seclusion to last?"
+
+"Until after a certain event to take place at the end of three months."
+
+"Ah! and then another month for convalescence! So it will be late in the
+autumn before we can hope to see Mrs. Fabian Rockharrt at Rockhold!"
+
+"I fear so, indeed, sir!"
+
+"I do not approve of this petting, coddling, and indulging women. It
+makes the weak creatures weaker. If you choose to seclude your wife or
+allow her to seclude herself on account of a purely physiological
+condition, I will not allow Mrs. Rockharrt to go near her until she goes
+to return her call."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+When Cora reached her chamber that evening, she sat down to reflect on
+all that her Uncle Fabian had told her of the past history of her
+grandfather's young wife, and to anticipate the possible movements of
+her brother. Her own life, since the loss of her husband--now loved so
+deeply, though loved too late--she felt was over. The future had nothing
+for herself. What, therefore, could she do with the dull years in which
+she might long vegetate through life but to give them in useful service
+to those who needed help? She would go with her brother to the frontier,
+and find some field of labor among the Indians. She would found a school
+with her fortune, and devote her life to the education of Indian
+children. And she would call the school by her lost husband's name, and
+so make of it a monument to his memory.
+
+Revolving these plans in her mind, Cora Rothsay retired to rest. The
+next morning she arose at her usual hour, dressed, and went down stairs.
+
+Old Aaron Rockharrt and his young wife were already in the parlor,
+waiting for the breakfast bell to ring.
+
+She had but just greeted them when the call came, and all moved toward
+the breakfast room.
+
+Just as the three had seated themselves at the table, and while Rose
+was pouring out the coffee, the sound of carriage wheels was heard
+approaching the house, and a few minutes later Mr. Clarence and Sylvan
+entered the breakfast room with joyous bustle.
+
+"What--what--what does this unseemly excitement mean?" sternly demanded
+the Iron King, while Cora arose to shake hands with her uncle and
+brother; and while Rose, fearful of doing wrong, did nothing at all.
+
+"What is the matter? What has happened? Why have you left the works at
+this hour of the morning, Clarence?" he requested of his son.
+
+"I came with Sylvan, sir, for the last time before he leaves us for
+distant and dangerous service, and for an unlimited period."
+
+"Ah! you have your orders, then?" said Mr. Rockharrt, in a somewhat
+mollified tone.
+
+"Yes, sir," said the young lieutenant. "I received my commission by the
+earliest mail this morning, with orders to report for duty to Colonel
+Glennin, of the Third Regiment of Infantry, now at Governor's Island,
+New York harbor, and under orders to start for Fort Farthermost, on the
+Mexican frontier. I must leave to-night in order to report in time."
+
+Cora looked at him with the deepest interest.
+
+Rose thought now she might venture on a little civility without giving
+offense to her despotic lord.
+
+"Have you had breakfast, you two?" she inquired.
+
+"No, indeed. We started immediately after receiving the orders," said
+Sylvan. "And we are as hungry as two bears."
+
+"Bring chairs to the table, Mark, for the gentlemen," said young Mrs.
+Rockharrt, who then rang for two more covers and hot coffee.
+
+"Cora," whispered Sylvan, as soon as he got a chance to speak to his
+sister, "you can never get ready to go with me on so short a notice.
+Women have so much to do."
+
+"Sylvan," she replied, "I have been ready for a month."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIV.
+
+SOMETHING UNEXPECTED.
+
+
+The day succeeding that on which Sylvanus Haught had received his
+commission as second lieutenant in the 3d Regiment of Infantry, then on
+Governor's Island, New York harbor, and under orders for Fort
+Farthermost, on the southwestern frontier, was a very busy one for Cora
+Rothsay; for, however well she had been prepared for a sudden journey,
+there were many little final details to be attended to which would
+require all the time she had left at her disposal.
+
+A farewell visit must be paid to Violet Rockharrt, and--worse than
+all--an explanatory interview must be held with her grandfather in
+relation to her departure with Sylvanus Haught, and that interview must
+be held before the Iron King should leave Rockhold that morning for his
+daily visit to the works.
+
+Cora had often, during the last year, and oftener since her
+grandfather's second marriage, taken occasion to allude to her intention
+of accompanying her brother to his post of duty, however distant and
+dangerous that post might be. She had done this with the fixed purpose
+of preparing this autocratic old gentleman's mind for the event.
+
+Now, the day of her intended departure had arrived; she was to leave
+Rockhold with her brother that afternoon to take the evening express to
+New York. And as she could not go without taking leave of her
+grandfather, it was necessary that she should announce her intention to
+him before he should start on his daily visit to North End.
+
+Therefore Cora had risen very early that morning and had gone down into
+the little office or library of the Iron King, that was situated at the
+rear of the middle hall, there to wait for him, as it was his custom to
+rise early and go into his study, to look over the papers before
+breakfast. These papers were brought by a special messenger from North
+End, who started from the depot as soon as the earliest train arrived
+with the morning's mail and reached Rockhold by seven o'clock.
+
+She had not sat there many minutes before Mr. Rockharrt entered the
+study.
+
+"I am going away with my brother," Cora said, without any preface
+whatever, "to Fort Farthermost, on the southwestern Indian frontier."
+
+"I think you must be crazy."
+
+"Dear grandpa, this is no impulsive purpose of mine. I have thought of
+it ever since--ever since--the death of my dear husband," said Cora, in
+a broken voice.
+
+"Oh! the death of your dear husband!" he exclaimed, rudely interrupting
+her. "Much you cared for the death of your dear husband! If you had, you
+would never have driven him forth to his death!--for that is what you
+did! You cannot deceive me now. As long as the fate of Rule Rothsay was
+a mystery, I was myself at somewhat of a loss to account for his
+disappearance--though I suspected you even then--but when the news came
+that he had been killed by the Comanches near the boundaries of Mexico,
+and I had time to reflect on it all, I knew that he had been driven away
+by you--you! And all for the sake of a titled English dandy! You need
+not deny it, Cora Rothsay!"
+
+"It would be quite useless to deny anything that you choose to assert,
+sir," replied the young lady, coldly but respectfully. "Yet I must say
+this, that I loved and honored my husband more than I ever did or ever
+can love and honor any other human being. His departure broke my spirit,
+and his death has nearly broken my heart--certainly it has blasted my
+future. My life is worth nothing, nothing to me, except as I make it
+useful to those who need my help."
+
+"Rubbish!" exclaimed old Aaron Rockharrt, turning over the leaves of his
+paper and looking for the financial column.
+
+"Grandfather, please hear me patiently for a few minutes, for after
+to-day I do not know that we may ever meet again," pleaded Cora.
+
+The old man laid his open paper on his knees, set his spectacles up on
+his head, and looked at her.
+
+"What the devil do you mean?" he slowly inquired.
+
+"Sir, I am to leave Rockhold with my brother this afternoon, to go with
+him, first to Governor's Island, and within a few days start with him
+for the distant frontier fort which may be his post of duty for many
+years to come. We may not be able to return within your lifetime,
+grandfather," said Cora, gravely and tenderly.
+
+"And what in Satan's name, unless you are stark mad, should take you out
+to the Indian frontier?" he demanded.
+
+"I might answer, to be with my only brother, I being his only sister."
+
+"Bosh! Men's wives very seldom accompany them to these savage posts,
+much less their sisters! What does a young officer want his sister
+tagging after him for?"
+
+"It is not that Sylvan especially wants me, nor for his sake alone that
+I go."
+
+"Well, then, what in the name of lunacy do you go for?"
+
+"That I may devote my time and fortune to a good cause--to the education
+of Indian girls and boys. I mean to build--"
+
+"That, or something like that, was what Rothsay tried to do when you
+drove him away, as if he had been a leper, to the desert. Well, go on!
+What next? Let us hear the whole of the mad scheme!"
+
+"I mean to build a capacious school house, in which I will receive,
+board, lodge, and teach as many Indian children as may be intrusted to
+me, until the house shall be full."
+
+"Moonstruck mania! That is what your mad husband driven mad by
+you--attempted on a smaller scale, and failed."
+
+"That is why I wish to do this. I wish to follow in his footsteps It is
+the best thing I can do to honor his memory."
+
+"But he was murdered for his pains."
+
+Cora shuddered and covered her face with her hands for a space; then she
+answered, slowly:
+
+"There may be many failures; but there will never be any success unless
+the failures are made stepping stones to final victory."
+
+"Fudge! See here, mistress! No doubt you suffer a good many stings of
+conscience for having driven the best man that ever lived--except, hem!
+well--to his death! But you need not on that account expatriate yourself
+from civilization, to go out to try to teach those red devils who
+murdered your husband and burned his hut, and who will probably murder
+you and burn your school house! You have been a false woman and a
+miserable sinner, Cora Rothsay! And you have deserved to suffer and you
+have suffered, there is no doubt about that! But you have repented, and
+may be pardoned. You need not immolate yourself at your age. You are a
+mere girl. You will get over your morbid grief. You may marry again."
+
+Cora slowly, sadly, silently shook her head.
+
+"Oh, yes; you will."
+
+"No, no; no, dear grandpa. I will bear my dear, lost husband's name to
+the end of my life, and it shall be inscribed on my tomb. Ah! would to
+Heaven that at the last, I might lay my ashes beside his," she moaned.
+
+"Now don't be a confounded fool, Cora Rothsay! To be sure, all women are
+fools! But, then, a girl with a drop of my blood in her veins should not
+be such a consummate idiot as you are showing yourself to be. You shall
+not go out with Sylvan to that savage frontier. It is no place for a
+woman, particularly for an unmarried woman. You would come to a bad end.
+I shall speak to Sylvan. I shall forbid him to take you there," said the
+old autocrat.
+
+Cora smiled, but answered nothing. She had firmly made up her mind to go
+with her brother, whether her grandfather should approve the action or
+not; but she thought it unnecessary to dispute the matter with him just
+now.
+
+"So, mistress, you will stay here, under my guardianship, until you
+accept a husband, like a respectable woman," continued old Aaron
+Rockharrt.
+
+Still Cora remained silent, standing by his chair, with her hand resting
+on the table, and her eyes cast down.
+
+The egotist seemed not to object to having all the talk to himself.
+
+"Come!" he exclaimed, with sudden animation, sitting bolt upright in his
+chair, "When I found you in this room just now, you said you had
+something to tell me. And you told it. Naturally, it was not worth
+hearing. Now, then, I have something to tell you, which is so well worth
+hearing that when you have heard it your missionary madness may be
+cured, and your Quixotic expedition given up: in fact, all your plans in
+life changed--a splendid prospect opened before you."
+
+Cora looked up, her languor all gone, her interest aroused. Something
+was rising in her mind; not a sun of hope ah! no--but nebula, obscure,
+unformed, indistinct, yet with possible suns of hope, worlds of
+happiness, within it. What did her grandfather mean? Had he heard
+something about--Was Rule yet--
+
+Swift as lightning flashed these thoughts through her mind while her
+grandfather drew his breath between his utterances.
+
+"Listen! This is what I had to tell you: I had a letter a few days ago
+from an old suitor of yours," he said, looking keenly at his
+granddaughter.
+
+Cora's eyes fell, her spirits drooped. The nebula of unknown hopes and
+joys had faded away, leaving her prospect dark again. She looked
+depressed and disappointed. She could feel no shadow of interest in her
+old suitors.
+
+"I received this letter several days since, and being at leisure just
+then. I answered it. But in the pressure of some important matters I
+forgot to tell you of it, though it concerned yourself mostly, I might
+say entirely. Shouldn't have remembered it now, I suppose, if it had not
+been for your foolish talk about going out for a missionary to the
+savages. Ah! another destiny awaits your acceptance."
+
+Cora sighed in silence.
+
+"Now, then. Of course you must know who this correspondent is."
+
+"Without offense to you, grandfather, I neither know nor care,"
+languidly replied the lady.
+
+"But it is not without offense to me. You are the most eccentric and
+inconsistent woman I ever met in all the course of my life. You are not
+constant even to your inconstancy."
+
+Having uttered this paradox, the old man threw himself back in his chair
+and gazed at his granddaughter.
+
+"I am not yet clear as to your meaning, sir," she said, coldly but
+respectfully.
+
+"What! Have you quite forgotten the titled dandy for whom you were near
+breaking your heart three years ago? For whom you were ready to throw
+over one of the best and truest men that ever lived! For whom you really
+did drive Regulas Rothsay, on the proudest and happiest day of his life,
+into exile and death!"
+
+"Oh, don't! don't! grandfather! Don't!" wailed Cora, sinking on an
+office stool, and dropping her hands and head on the table.
+
+"Now, none of that, mistress. No hysterics, if you please. I won't
+permit any woman about me to indulge in such tantrums. Listen to me,
+ma'am. My correspondent was young Cumbervale, the noodle!"
+
+"Then I never wish to see or hear or think of him again!" exclaimed
+Cora.
+
+"Indeed! But that is a woman all through. She will do or suffer anything
+to get her own way. She will defy all her friends and relations, all
+principles of truth and honor; she will move Heaven and earth, go
+through fire and water, to get her own way; and when she does get it she
+don't want it, and she won't have it."
+
+"Grandfather!" pleaded Cora.
+
+"Silence! Three years ago you would have walked over all our dead
+bodies, if necessary, to marry that noble booby. And you would have
+married him if it had not been for me! I would not permit you to wed
+him then, because you were in honor bound to Regulas Rothsay. I shall
+insist on your accepting him now, because poor Rothsay is in his grave,
+and this will be the best thing to do for you to help you out of harm's
+way from redskins and rattlesnakes and other reptiles. I don't think
+much of the fellow; but he seems to be a harmless idiot, and is good
+enough for you."
+
+Cora answered never a word, but she felt quite sure that not even the
+iron will of the Iron King could ever coerce her into marriage with any
+man, least of all with the man whose memory was identified with her
+heart's tragedy. The old man continued his monologue.
+
+"The best thing about the fellow is his constancy. He was after your
+imaginary fortune once. I am sure of that. And he was so dazzled by the
+illumination of that _ignis fatuus_ that he didn't see you, perhaps, and
+didn't recognize how much he really cared for you. At all events, in his
+letter to me--and, by the way, it is very strange that he should write
+to me after the snubbing I gave him in London," said the Iron King,
+reflectively.
+
+Cora did not think that was strange. She, at least, felt sure that it
+was as impossible for the young duke to take offense at the rudeness of
+the old iron man as at the raging of a dog or the tearing of a bull. But
+she did not drop a hint of this to the egotist, who never imagined
+passive insolence to be at the bottom of the duke's forbearance.
+
+"In his letter to me," resumed old Aaron Rockharrt, "the young fool
+tells me that, immediately after his great disappointment in being
+rejected by you, he left England--and, indeed, Europe--and traveled
+through every accessible portion of Asia and Africa, in the hope of
+overcoming his misplaced affection, but in vain, for that he returned
+home at the end of two years with his heart unchanged. There he learned
+through the newspapers that you had been recently widowed, through the
+murder of your husband in an Indian mutiny. That's how he put it. He
+farther wrote that, in the face of such a tragedy as that, he felt bound
+to forbear the faintest approach toward resuming his acquaintance with
+you until some considerable time should have elapsed, although, he was
+careful to add, he always believed that you had given him your heart,
+and would have given him your hand had you been permitted to do so. He
+ended his letter by asking me to give him your address, that he might
+write to you. He evidently supposed you to be keeping house for
+yourself, as English widows of condition usually do. Well, my girl, what
+do you think I did?"
+
+"You told me, sir, that, being at leisure just then, you answered his
+letter immediately," coldly replied Cora.
+
+"Yes; and I told him that you were living with me. I gave him the full
+address. And I told him that I was pleased with his frankness and
+fidelity, qualities which I highly approved; and I added that if he
+wished to renew his suit to you, he need not waste time in writing, but
+that he might come over and court you in person here at Rockhold, where
+he should receive a hearty, old-fashioned welcome."
+
+Cora gazed at the old man aghast.
+
+"Oh, grandfather, you never wrote that!" she exclaimed.
+
+"I never wrote that? What do you mean, mistress? Am I in the habit of
+saying what is not true?"
+
+"Oh, no; but I am so grieved that you should have written such a
+letter."
+
+"Why, pray?"
+
+"Because I cannot bear that any one should think for a moment that I
+could ever marry again."
+
+"Rubbish!"
+
+"Well, it does not matter after all. If the duke should come on this
+fool's errand, I shall be far enough out of his reach," thought Cora;
+but she said no more.
+
+The breakfast bell rang out with much clamor, and the old man arose
+growling.
+
+"And now you have cheated me out of my hour with the newspapers by your
+foolish talk. Come, come to breakfast and let us hear no more nonsense
+about going on that wild goose chase to the Indian frontier."
+
+At the end of the morning meal he arose from the table, called his young
+wife to fetch him his hat, his gloves, his duster, and other belongings,
+and he got ready for his daily morning drive to the works.
+
+"I shall remain at North End to bid you good-by, Sylvan. Call at my
+office there on your way to the depot," he said, as he left the house to
+step into his carriage waiting at the door.
+
+As the sound of the wheels rolled off and died in the distance, Rose
+turned to Cora and inquired:
+
+"My dear, does he know that you are going out West with Sylvan?"
+
+"He should know it. I have spoken freely of my plans before you both for
+months past," said Cora.
+
+"But, my dear, he never took the slightest notice of anything you said
+on that subject. Why, he did not even seem to hear you."
+
+"He heard me perfectly. Nothing passes in my grandfather's presence that
+he does not see and hear and understand."
+
+"Well, then, I reckon he thinks you have changed your mind; for he spoke
+of meeting Sylvan at North End to bid him good-by, but said not a word
+about you."
+
+"He will believe that I am going when he sees me with Sylvan," said
+Cora.
+
+And then she touched the bell and ordered her carriage to be brought to
+the door.
+
+"We must go and take leave of Mrs. Fabian Rockharrt," she said to Rose.
+
+Twenty minutes later Cora and Sylvan entered the pony carriage. Sylvan
+took the reins and started for Violet Banks.
+
+They soon reached the lovely villa, where they found Violet seated in a
+Quaker rocking-chair on the front porch, with a basket workstand beside
+her, busily and happily engaged in her beloved work--embroidering an
+infant's white cashmere cloak. She jumped up, dropped her work, and ran
+to meet her visitors as they alighted from the carriage. She kissed Cora
+rapturously, and Sylvan kissed her.
+
+"How lovely of you both to come! Wait a minute till I call a boy to take
+your chaise around to the stable. And, oh, sit down. You are going to
+stay all day with me, too, and late into the night--there is a fine moon
+to-night. Or maybe you will stay a week or a month. Why not? Oh, do
+stay," she rattled on, a little incoherently on account of her happy
+excitement.
+
+"No, dear," said Cora, "we can only stay a very few minutes. The rising
+moon will see us far away on our route to New York."
+
+"W-h-y! You astonish me! How sudden this is! Where are you going?" asked
+Violet, pausing in her hurry to call a groom.
+
+"Let me explain," said Cora, taking one of the Quaker chairs and seating
+herself. "Sylvan has just received his commission as second lieutenant
+in the 3d Regiment of Infantry, now on Governor's Island, New York
+harbor, but under orders for Fort Farthermost, on the extreme frontier
+of the Indian Reserve. He leaves by the afternoon express, and I go with
+him."
+
+"Cora!" exclaimed Violet, as she dropped into her chair. "I know you
+have talked about this, but I never thought you would do such a wild
+deed! Please don't think of going out among bears and Indians!"
+
+"I must, dear, for many reasons. Sylvan and myself are all and all to
+each other at present, and we should not be parted. More than that, I
+wish to do something in the world. I can not do anything here. I am not
+wanted, you see. I must, therefore, go where I may be wanted and may do
+some good."
+
+"But what can you do--out there?"
+
+Cora then explained her plan of establishing a missionary home and
+school for Indian children.
+
+"What a good, great, but, oh, what a Quixotic plan! Sylvan, why will you
+let her do it?" pleaded Violet.
+
+"My dear, I would not presume to oppose Cora. If she thinks she is right
+in this matter, then she is right. If her resolution is fixed, then I
+will uphold and defend her in that resolution," said the young
+lieutenant, loyally. But all the same his secret thought was that some
+fine fellow in his own regiment might be able to persuade Cora to devote
+her time and fortune to him, instead of to the redskins.
+
+After a little more talk Cora got up and kissed Violet good-by. Sylvan
+followed her example with a little more ardor than was absolutely
+necessary, perhaps.
+
+At Rockhold luncheon was on the table, and young Mrs. Rockharrt waiting
+for them. Mr. Clarence was also at home, having determined to risk his
+father's displeasure and to neglect his business on this one day--this
+last day, for the sake of the niece and the nephew who were so dear to
+his heart.
+
+After luncheon Sylvan went out to oversee the loading of the farm van,
+which was drawn by two sturdy mules, with the many heavy trunks and
+boxes that contained Cora's wardrobe and books--among the latter a
+large number of elementary school books. Mr. Clarence stood by his side
+to help him in case of need. Cora went up to her room, where nothing was
+now left to be done but to pack her little traveling bag with the
+necessaries for her journey, and then put on her traveling suit. She had
+a quantity of valuable jewelry, but this she put carefully into her hand
+bag, intending to convert it all into money as soon as she should reach
+New York, and to consecrate the fund, with the bulk of her fortune, to
+her projected home school for the Indian children.
+
+As she sat there, she was by some occult agency led to think of her
+grandfather's young wife--to think of her tenderly, charitably,
+compassionately. Poor Rose! In infancy, from the day of her father's
+death, an unloved, neglected, persecuted child; in childhood, driven to
+desperation and elopement by the miseries of her home; in girlhood,
+deceived and abandoned by her lover; now, in womanhood, as friendless
+and unhappy as if she had not married a wealthy man, and was not living
+in a luxurious home. Poor Rose! She had lost her sense of honor, or she
+never would have married Mr. Rockharrt, even for a refuge. But, through
+all her sins and sorrows, she had not lost her tender heart, her sweet
+temper, or her amiable desire to serve and to please. She had now a hard
+time with her aged, despotic husband. He had not gratified her ambition
+by taking her into the upper circles of society, for he seemed now to
+have given up society; he had not pleased her harmless vanity with
+presents of fine dress and jewelry; no, nor even regarded her services
+with any sort of affectionate recognition.
+
+Cora sat there feeling sorry that she had ever shown herself cold and
+haughty to the helpless creature who had always done all that she could
+to win her (Cora's) love, and whom she was about to leave to the tender
+mercies of a hard and selfish old man, who, though he highly approved of
+his young wife's meekness, humility and subserviency, and held her up as
+an example to her whole sex, yet did not care for her, did not consult
+her wishes in anything, did not consider her happiness.
+
+Cora sat wondering what she could do to give this poor little soul some
+little pleasure before leaving her. Suddenly she thought of her jewels.
+She resolved to select a set and give it to Rose with some kind parting
+word.
+
+She took her hand bag and withdrew from it case after case, examining
+each in turn. There was a set of diamonds worth many thousand dollars; a
+set of rubies and pearls, worth almost as much; a set of emeralds, very
+costly; but none of them as lovely as a set of sapphires, pearls, and
+diamonds, artistically arranged together, the sapphires encircled by a
+row of pearls, with an outer circle of small diamonds; the whole
+suggesting the blue color, the foam, and the sparkle of the sea.
+
+This Cora selected as a parting present to her grandfather's young wife.
+
+She took them in her hand and hurried to Rose's room, knocked at the
+door and entered. Rose was seated in a white dimity-covered arm chair,
+engaged in reading a novel. She looked surprised, and almost frightened,
+at the sight of Cora, who had never before condescended to enter this
+private room.
+
+"Have I disturbed you?" inquired Cora.
+
+"Oh, no; no, indeed. Pray come in. Please sit down. Will you have this
+arm chair?" eagerly inquired the young woman, rising from her seat.
+
+"No, thank you, Rose; I have scarcely time to sit. I have brought you a
+keepsake which I hope you will sometimes wear in memory of your old
+pupil," said Cora, opening the casket and displaying the gems.
+
+Rose's face was a study--all that was good and evil in her was aroused
+at the sight of the rich and costly jewels--vanity, cupidity, gratitude,
+tenderness.
+
+"Oh, how superb they are! I never saw such splendid gems! A parure for a
+princess, and you give them to me? What a munificent present! How kind
+you are, Cora! What can I do? How shall I ever be able to return your
+kindness?" said Rose, as tears of delight and wonder filled her eyes.
+
+"Wear them and enjoy them. They suit your fair complexion very well. And
+now let me bid you good-by, here."
+
+"No, no; not yet. I will go down and see you off--see the very last of
+you, Cora, until the carriage takes you out of sight. Oh, dear, it may
+indeed be the very last that I shall ever see of you, sure enough."
+
+"I hope not. Why do you speak so sadly?"
+
+"Because I am not strong. My father died of consumption; so did my elder
+brothers and sisters, the children of his first marriage, and often I
+think I shall follow them."
+
+Mrs. Rothsay looked at the speaker. The transparent delicacy of
+complexion, the tenderness of the limpid blue eyes, the infantile
+softness of face, throat, and hands, certainly did not seem to promise
+much strength or long life; but Cora spoke cheerfully:
+
+"Such hereditary weakness may be overcome in these days of science,
+Rose. You must banish fear and take care of yourself. Now, I really must
+go and put on my bonnet."
+
+"Very well, then, if you must. I will meet you in the hall. Oh, my dear,
+I am so very grateful to you for these precious jewels, and more than
+all for the friendship and kindness that prompted the gift," said Rose;
+and perhaps she really did believe that she prized the giver more than
+the gift; for such self-deception would have been in keeping with her
+superficial character.
+
+Cora left the room and hurried to her chamber, where she put on her
+bonnet and her linen duster. She had scarcely fastened the last button
+when her brother knocked at the door, calling out:
+
+"Come, Cora, come, or we shall miss the train."
+
+Cora caught up her traveling bag, cast
+
+    "A long, last, lingering look"
+
+around the dear, familiar room which she had occupied when at Rockhold
+from her childhood's days, and then went out and joined her brother.
+
+In the hall below they were met by Rose
+
+"Be good to her, poor thing," whispered Cora to Sylvan.
+
+"All right," replied the young lieutenant.
+
+Rose's eyes were filled with tears. It seemed to the friendless creature
+very hard to lose Cora, just as Cora was beginning to be friendly.
+
+"Good-by," said Mrs. Rothsay, taking the woman's hand. But Rose burst
+into tears, threw her arms around the young lady's neck, hugged her
+close, and kissed her many times.
+
+"Good-by, my pretty step-grandmother-in-law," said Sylvan, gayly, taking
+her hand and giving her a kiss. "You are still
+
+    'The rose that all admire,'
+
+but the best of friends must part."
+
+And leaving Rose in tears, he opened the door for his sister to pass out
+before him. But she, at least, passed no farther than the front porch,
+where she stood looking down the lawn in surprise and anxiety, while
+Sylvan hurried off to see what was the meaning of that which had so
+suddenly startled them. What was it? What had happened?
+
+A crowd of men, silent, but with faces full of suppressed excitement and
+surrounding something that was borne in their midst, was slowly marching
+up the avenue.
+
+Cora watched Sylvan as he went to meet them; saw him speak to them,
+though she could not hear what he said; saw them stop and put the
+something, which they bore along and escorted, down on the gravel; saw a
+parley between her brother and the crowd, and finally saw her brother
+turn and hurry back toward the house, wearing a pale and troubled
+countenance.
+
+"You may take the carriage back to the stables, John," said the
+lieutenant to the wondering negro groom, as he passed it in returning to
+the porch.
+
+"What is the matter, Sylvan? What has happened? Why have you sent the
+carriage away?" Cora anxiously inquired.
+
+"Because, my dear, we must not leave Rockhold at present," he gravely
+replied. "There has been an accident, Cora."
+
+"An accident! On the railroad?"
+
+"No, my dear; to our old grandfather."
+
+"To grandfather! Oh, Sylvan! no! no!" she cried, turning white, and
+dropping upon a bench, all her latent affection for the aged
+patriarch--the unsuspected affection--waking in her heart.
+
+"Yes, dear," said Sylvan, softly.
+
+"Seriously? Dangerously? Fatally? Perhaps he is dead and you are trying
+to break it to me! You can't do it! You can't! Oh, Sylvan, is
+grandfather dead?" she wildly demanded.
+
+"No, dear! No, no, no! Compose yourself. They are bringing him here,
+and he is perfectly conscious. He must not see you so much agitated. It
+would annoy him. We do not yet know how seriously he is hurt. He was
+thrown from his carriage when near North End. The horses took fright at
+the passing of a train. They ran away and went over that steep bank just
+at the entrance of the village. The carriage was shattered all to
+pieces; the coachman killed outright--poor old Joseph--and the horses so
+injured that they had to be shot."
+
+"Poor old Joseph! I am so sorry! so very sorry! But grandfather!
+grandfather!"
+
+"He was picked up insensible; carried to the hotel on a mattress laid on
+planks, borne by half a dozen workmen, and the doctor was summoned
+immediately. He was laid in bed, and all means were tried to restore
+consciousness. But as soon as he came to his senses he demanded to be
+brought home. The doctor thought it dangerous to do so. But you know the
+grandfather's obstinacy. So a stretcher was prepared, a spring mattress
+laid on it, and he has been borne all the way from North End to Rockhold
+Ferry by relays of six men at a time, relieving each other at short
+intervals, and escorted by the doctor and our two uncles. That, Cora, is
+all I can tell you."
+
+He then entered the house, followed by Cora.
+
+They found Rose still in the front hall, where they had left her a few
+minutes before. She was seated in one of the oak chairs wiping her eyes.
+She had not seen the approaching procession with the burden they
+carried. And of course she had not heard their silent movements.
+
+She looked up in surprise at the re-entrance of Cora and Sylvan.
+
+"Oh!" she exclaimed "Have you forgotten anything? So glad to see you
+back, even for half a minute. For, after all, I couldn't see you drive
+away. I just shut the door and flung myself into this chair to have a
+good cry. Can't you put off your journey now, just for to-night and
+start to-morrow? You will have to do it anyhow. You can't catch the 6:30
+express now," she added, coming toward them.
+
+"We shall not attempt it, Rose," said Sylvan, in a kinder tone than he
+usually used in speaking to her.
+
+"I am so glad," she said, but her further words were arrested by the
+grave looks of the young man.
+
+"What is the matter with you?" she suddenly inquired.
+
+"There has been an accident, Rose. Not fatal, my dear, so don't be
+frightened. My grandfather has been thrown from his carriage and
+stunned. But he has recovered consciousness, and they are bringing him
+home a deal shaken, but not in serious danger."
+
+While Sylvan spoke, Rose gazed at him in perfect silence, with her blue
+eyes widening. When he finished, she asked:
+
+"How did it happen?"
+
+Sylvan told her.
+
+Rose dropped into a chair and covered her face with her hands. She was
+more shocked than grieved by all that she had heard. If her tyrant had
+been brought home dead, I think she would only have sighed
+
+    "With the sigh of a great deliverance!"
+
+"Let us go now, Rose, and prepare his bed. Sylvan will stay hereto
+receive him," said Cora.
+
+The two women went up to the old man's room and turned down the
+bedclothes, and laid out a change of linen, and many towels in case they
+should be needed, and then went to the head of the stairs and waited and
+listened.
+
+Presently, through the open hall door, they heard the muffled tread and
+subdued tones of the men, who presently entered, bearing the stretcher
+on which was laid the huge form of the Iron King, covered, all except
+his face, with a white bed-spread. Slowly, carefully, and with some
+difficulty they bore him up the broad staircase head first--preceded by
+the family physician, Dr. Cummins, and followed by Messrs. Fabian and
+Clarence.
+
+Rose and Cora stood each side the open chamber door, and when the men
+bore the stretcher in and set it down on the floor, the two women
+approached and looked down on the injured man.
+
+His countenance was scarcely affected by his accident. He was no paler
+than usual. He was frowning--it might be from pain or it might be from
+anger--and he was glaring around. Rose was afraid to speak to him, prone
+on the stretcher as he was, lest she should get her head bitten off.
+Cora bent over him and said tenderly:
+
+"Dear grandfather, I am very sorry for this. I hope you are not hurt
+much."
+
+And she had her head immediately snapped off.
+
+"Don't be a confounded idiot!" he growled, hoarsely. "Go and send old
+black Martha here. She is worth a hundred of you two."
+
+Rose hurried off to obey this order, glad enough of an excuse to escape.
+And now the room was cleared of all the men except the family physician,
+the two sons, and the grandson.
+
+These approached the stretcher and carefully and tenderly undressed the
+patient and laid him on his bed.
+
+Then the physician made a more careful examination.
+
+There were no bones broken. The injuries seemed to be all internal; but
+of their seriousness or dangerousness the physician could not yet judge.
+The nervous shock had certainly been severe, and that in itself was a
+grave misfortune to a man of Aaron Rockharrt's age, and might have been
+instantaneously fatal to any one of less remarkable strength.
+
+Dr. Cummins told Mr. Fabian that he should remain in attendance on his
+patient all night. Then, at the desire of Mr. Rockharrt, he cleared the
+sick room of every one except the old negro woman.
+
+When the door was shut upon them all, and the chamber was quiet, he
+administered a sedative to his patient and advised him to close his eyes
+and try to compose himself.
+
+Then the doctor sat down on the right side of the bed, with old Martha
+on his left.
+
+There was utter silence for a few minutes, and then old Aaron Rockharrt
+spoke.
+
+"What's the hour, doctor?"
+
+"Seven," replied the physician after consulting his gold repeater. "But
+I advise you to keep quiet and try to sleep," he added, returning his
+timepiece to his fob.
+
+As if the Iron King ever followed advice! As if he did not, on general
+principles, always run counter to it!
+
+"Didn't I see my fool of a grandson among the other lunatics who ran
+after me here?" he next inquired.
+
+"Yes."
+
+"Where is he now?"
+
+"With the ladies, I think."
+
+"Send--him--up--to--me!"
+
+The doctor shrugged his shoulders and went to obey the order. The
+obstinacy of this self-willed egotist was surely growing into a
+monomania, and perhaps it would have been more dangerous to oppose him
+than to comply with his whim. In a few moments Dr. Cummins re-entered
+the room, followed by Sylvan Haught.
+
+"I hope you are feeling easier," said the lieutenant, as he bent over
+his grandfather.
+
+"I have not complained of feeling uneasy yet, have I?" growled the Iron
+King.
+
+"You sent for me, sir. Can I do anything for you?"
+
+"For me? No; not likely! But you can do your duty to your country! How
+is it that you are not on your way to join your regiment?"
+
+"I had actually bidden good-by and left the house to start on my
+journey, when I met men bringing you home."
+
+"What the demon had that to do with it?"
+
+"I could not go on, sir, and leave you under such circumstances."
+
+"Look here, young sir!" said the Iron King, speaking hoarsely, faintly,
+yet with strong determination. "Do you call yourself a soldier or a
+shirk? Let me tell you that it is the first duty of a soldier to obey
+orders, at all times, under all circumstances, and at all costs! If you
+had been a married man, and your wife had been dying--if you had been a
+father, and your child had been dying, it would have been your duty to
+leave them!"
+
+"But, sir, there was no real need that I should go by this night's
+express. If I should start to-morrow morning, I shall be in good time to
+report for duty. It was only my zeal to be better than prompt which
+induced me to start earlier than necessary. To-morrow will be quite time
+enough to leave for New York."
+
+"Very well; then go to-morrow by the first train," said the Iron King in
+a more subdued manner, for the sedative was beginning to take effect.
+
+At a hint from the doctor the young lieutenant bade his grandfather
+good-night and softly stepped out of the room.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXV.
+
+THE SICK LION.
+
+
+Early the next morning Dr. Cummins came down stairs and joined the
+family at the breakfast table.
+
+In answer to anxious inquiries, he reported that Mr. Rockharrt had slept
+well during the night, and had just taken refreshment prepared by old
+Martha under the physician's own orders, and had composed himself to
+sleep again.
+
+"He would not admit any of us last night. Will he see me this morning?"
+inquired Rose Rockharrt.
+
+"Of course, after a little while. It was best that I and the old nurse
+should have watched him alone together last night, but the woman now
+needs rest, and I must presently take leave, to look after my other
+patients. You two ladies must take the watch to-day, with one of these
+gentlemen within call. I will give you full directions for my patient's
+treatment, and will see him again in the afternoon."
+
+"Does my father's present condition admit of my leaving him to go and
+look after the works this morning?" inquired Mr. Fabian, who had spent
+the night at Rockhold.
+
+"Yes," replied the doctor, after some little hesitation. "Yes; I think
+so. If your presence here should be absolutely needed, you can be
+promptly summoned, you know; but one of you should remain on guard."
+
+"Clarence will stay home, then," replied Mr. Fabian.
+
+"Doctor, you heard my grandfather order me to leave Rockhold this
+morning to join my regiment. Now, what do you think? May I see him
+before I go?" inquired the young lieutenant.
+
+"I will let you know when he wakes," said Dr. Cummins.
+
+"Must you leave us to-day, Sylvan? Could you not be excused under the
+circumstances?" inquired Mrs. Rockharrt.
+
+"No; I could not be excused. I must join my regiment, Rose."
+
+"But, Cora! Oh, Cora! You will not leave us now? You are not under
+orders, and--and--I wish you would stay," pleaded Rose.
+
+"I shall stay, Rose. It is as much my bounden duty to stay as it is that
+of Sylvan to go," answered Cora.
+
+"Oh, that is such a relief to my feelings!" exclaimed the other lady.
+
+Dr. Cummins looked up in surprise, glancing from one woman to the other.
+
+Sylvan undertook to explain.
+
+"My sister was going out with me, sir. I am her nearest relative, as she
+is mine, and we do not like to be separated."
+
+"Ah!" said the doctor. "And now, very properly, she decides to stay
+here."
+
+"For a while, Dr. Cummins--until the case of my grandfather shall be
+decided. Later I shall certainly follow my brother," Cora explained.
+
+Before another word could be uttered the door opened, and Violet
+Rockharrt, in a silver gray carriage dress, entered the room. Mr. Fabian
+sprang up to meet her.
+
+"My dear child, why have you come out here against all orders?"
+
+Mrs. Fabian Rockharrt saluted all the company at the breakfast, who had
+risen to receive her, and then replied to her husband's question.
+
+"I have come to see how our father is. It was twelve o'clock last night
+when your messenger arrived at the Banks and told me that you would not
+be able to return that night, because an accident had happened to Mr.
+Rockharrt. Not a dangerous one, but yet one that would keep you with him
+for some hours. I know very well how accidents are smoothed over in
+being reported to women; so I was not reassured by that clause, and I
+would have set out for Rockhold immediately if it had not been a
+starless midnight, making the road dangerous to others as well as
+myself. But I was up at daybreak to start this morning, and here I am."
+
+"Sit down, my child; sit down. You look pale and tired. Ah! did not our
+good doctor here forbid you taking long walks or rides?"
+
+"I know, Fabian; but sometimes a woman must be a law to herself. It was
+my duty to come in person and inquire after our father; so I came, even
+against orders," said Violet, composedly.
+
+"Now look at that little creature, doctor. She seems as soft as a dove,
+as gentle as a lamb; but she is perfectly lawless. She defies me, abuses
+me, and upon occasion thrashes me. Would you believe it of her?"
+demanded Mr. Fabian, gazing with pride and delight on his good little
+wife.
+
+"Oh, yes; I can quite believe it. She looks a perfect shrew, vixen,
+virago! Oh, how I pity you, Mr. Fabian!" said the doctor.
+
+Cora filled out a cup of coffee and brought it to the visitor,
+whispering:
+
+"I am glad you came, Violet. I do not believe it will hurt you one bit
+in any way."
+
+"Can I see father? I want to see for myself, and to kiss him, and tell
+him how sorry I am; and I want to help to nurse him. Say, can I see
+him?"
+
+"Not just now, dear. None of us have seen him since he was put to bed
+last evening except the doctor and the nurse; but in the course of the
+day you may. You will spend the day with us?" Cora inquired.
+
+"I will spend the day and the night, and to-morrow and to-morrow night,
+and this week and next week, and just as long as I can be helpful and
+useful to father, if you and mamma there will permit me. And, by the
+way, I have not kissed mamma yet. Only shaken hands with her." And so
+saying, Violet put down her untasted cup of coffee, went around the
+table, put her arms round Rose's neck, and kissed her fondly, saying:
+
+"You are very sweet and lovely, mamma, and I know I shall love you. I
+wanted to come and see you before this, but the doctor there wouldn't
+allow it. But now I have come to stay as long as I may be wanted."
+
+"I should want you forever, sweet wood violet," cooed Rose, returning
+her caresses.
+
+Mr. Fabian turned away, half in wrath, half in mirth. He was much too
+good humored to be seriously offended as he said to the doctor:
+
+"Ah! these dove-eyed darlings! How mistaken we are in them! You are an
+old bachelor, Cummins; but if you should ever take it into your head to
+repent of celibacy, don't marry a dove-eyed darling, if you don't want
+to be defied all the days of your life."
+
+"I won't," said the doctor; "but now I must go and see how Mr. Rockharrt
+is getting on, and take leave to look after my other patients."
+
+And he left the breakfast room, followed by Mr. Fabian.
+
+"You and Sylvan will not leave Rockhold for some time," said Violet,
+with a little air of triumph.
+
+"Sylvan must leave this morning. I shall remain until grandfather gets
+well," said Cora--"or dies," she added, mentally.
+
+In a few minutes Dr. Cummins returned and said that Mr. Rockharrt would
+see Lieutenant Haught first, and afterward the other members of his
+family.
+
+Then the physician bade the family good morning, and left the house.
+
+Sylvan went up stairs to their grandfather's room.
+
+There they found Mr. Fabian seated by the bedside.
+
+Old Martha had gone to her garret to lie down and rest. The windows were
+all open, and the summer sun and air lighted and cooled the room.
+
+"Come here, Sylvan," said the Iron King, and his voice, though hoarse
+and feeble, was peremptory.
+
+"The young lieutenant went up to the bedside and said:
+
+"I hope you are feeling better this morning, sir."
+
+"I hope so, too; but don't let us waste words in compliments. Cummins
+tells me that you wished to bid me good-by."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+"Well, bid good-by, then."
+
+"Grandfather, have you anything to say to me before I go?" respectfully
+inquired the young man.
+
+"If I had, don't you suppose that I could say it? Well, if you wish
+advice, I will give it you very briefly: You are an 'officer and a
+gentleman'--that is the phrase, I believe?"
+
+"I hope so, sir."
+
+"Then behave as one under all circumstances. Never lie--even to women;
+never cheat--even the government. That is all. I cannot bless you if
+that is what you want. No man can bless another--not even the Pope of
+Rome or the Archbishop of Canterbury. No one under heaven can bless you.
+You can only bless yourself by doing your whole duty under all
+circumstances. You will have men in authority over you. Obey them. You
+will have authority over other men. Make them obey you. There,
+good-by!" said old Aaron Rockharrt, holding out his hand to his
+grandson.
+
+Sylvan noticed how that hand shook as its aged owner held it up. He took
+it, lifted it to his lips, and pressed it to his heart.
+
+"There, there; don't be foolish, Sylvan! Good-by! Good-by! And you,
+Fabian! What are you loitering here for, when you should be looking
+after the works?" impatiently demanded the Iron King.
+
+"The carriage stands at the door, sir, waiting to take Sylvan to his
+train. I shall go with him as far as North End and try to do your work
+there in addition to my own."
+
+"Quite right. Where is Clarence?"
+
+"At North End, sir, where he went directly after he saw you safe in bed
+under the doctor's care," said Mr. Fabian, lying as fast as a horse
+could trot.
+
+"Very well. Send the two women here."
+
+"There happen to be three women below at present, sir. Violet has come
+to see you."
+
+In the morning sitting room below stairs Sylvan and Fabian found the
+three ladies with Clarence, all in a state of anxiety to hear from the
+injured man.
+
+Sylvan was more agitated in leaving his sister than any young soldier
+should have been. At the last, the very last instant of parting, when
+Mr. Fabian had left the parlor and was on his way to the carriage,
+Sylvan turned back and for the third time clasped Cora in his arms.
+
+"Never mind, Sylvan, as soon as I possibly can, without violating my
+duty to the only one on earth to whom I owe any duty, I shall go out to
+you. I can see now, now in this hour of parting, how very right I was in
+deciding to go with you. My journey is not abandoned, it is only
+postponed. God bless you, my dear."
+
+After standing at the front door until they had watched the carriage
+out of sight, the three went up stairs and softly entered the room of
+the injured man, so softly that he did not hear their entrance. They
+stood in a silent group, believing him to be asleep, and afraid to sit
+down, lest a chair should creak and wake him up.
+
+In a few seconds, however, they heard him clear his throat, knew that he
+was awake, and went up to his bedside.
+
+Rose spoke, gently, for all.
+
+"You sent for us, Mr. Rockharrt. We are all here, and we hope that you
+are much better," she said.
+
+"Oh, you do! Stand there--all three of you at the foot of the bed, so
+that I can see you without turning."
+
+The three women obeyed, placing themselves in line as he had directed,
+and perceived that he lay upon the flat of his back, looking straight
+before him, because he could not turn on either side without great pain.
+
+He scanned them and then said:
+
+"Ah, Violet, you are there! You have a proper sense of duty, my girl. So
+you have come to see how it is with me yourself, eh?"
+
+"Yes, father; and also to stay and help to nurse you, it I may be
+permitted to do so."
+
+"Rubbish! My wife can nurse me. It is her place. I don't want a lot of
+other women around me! I won't have more than one in the room with me at
+a time! Violet, get into your carriage and return to your home."
+
+"Oh, papa, how have I offended you?"
+
+"Not in any way as yet; but you will offend me if you disobey me. You
+must go home at once. You are not in a condition to be of any service
+here. You would only injure your own health, and distract the attention
+of these women from me. Wherever there is a lot of women, there is sure
+to be more talk than duty. So you must go. When I get well, and you get
+strong again, you may come and stay as long as you like. So, now, bid me
+good-by and be off with yourself."
+
+Violet, feeling much chagrined, went around to the side of the bed, took
+the hand of her father-in-law, bent over and kissed him good-by.
+
+"Now, Cora, take her out and see her off."
+
+Violet took leave of her young mother-in-law, and followed Cora from the
+sick room.
+
+"Now, Rose, close all the shutters; darken the room and sit beside the
+head of my bed. Don't speak until you are spoken to; don't move; don't
+even read; but sit still, silent, attentive, while I try to rest."
+
+Rose obeyed all his orders, and then sat like a dead woman, back in the
+resting chair beside him. She had noted how weak and husky his voice had
+been in giving his instructions to his "womankind," with what pain and
+effort he had spoken, while his strong will bore him through the
+interview, which, short as it was, had left him prostrate and exhausted.
+
+Rose wished to offer him the cordial the doctor had left, but he had
+ordered her not to move or speak until she was spoken to, and Rose dared
+not disobey. She did not know what might be the result of her passive
+obedience to him, nor, to tell the truth, did she very much care. Rose
+was weary of life!
+
+Meanwhile, Cora and Violet went down stairs together.
+
+At six o'clock the doctor came, and made anxious inquiries into the
+state of the injured man; but Cora could only report that he seemed to
+have passed a quiet day, watched by his wife, but unapproached by any
+other member of his family, all of whom he had forbidden to come near
+him unless called.
+
+"A very wise provision, my dear Mrs. Rothsay. I will go up now and see
+him," said Dr. Cummins.
+
+A few minutes later Rose came down and entered the parlor, looking very
+faint and white except for two small, deep crimson spots on the cheeks.
+
+"Here, Rose, take this chair," said Violet, vacating the most
+comfortable seat in the room, on which she had sat all the afternoon.
+
+The woman dropped into it, too weak and weary to stand upon ceremony.
+
+"How did you leave grandfather?"
+
+"I hardly know; but doing well, I should think, for he has been dozing
+all day, only waking up to ask for iced beef tea, or milk punch, and
+then, when he had drank one or the other, going to sleep again. I have
+been fanning him all the time except when I have been feeding him."
+
+While Rose was sipping some tea which had been promptly brought to her,
+the doctor came in and reported Mr. Rockharrt as doing extremely well.
+
+"You will stay to dinner with us, Dr. Cummins," said Rose.
+
+"Thank you, my dear lady, but I cannot. I shall just wait to see Mr.
+Fabian Rockharrt and give my report to him in all its details, as I
+promised, and then hurry home and go to bed. I have had no sleep for the
+last twenty-four--no, bless my soul! not for the last thirty-six hours!"
+replied the physician. He had scarcely ceased to speak when Mr. Fabian
+entered the room.
+
+"Oh! home so soon!" exclaimed Violet, starting up to meet him.
+
+"Yes; how is the father?"
+
+"There is the doctor; ask him."
+
+"Ah, Dr. Cummins! Good afternoon? How is your patient?"
+
+"Come with me into the library, Mr. Fabian, and I will give you a full
+report."
+
+"Where is Clarence?" inquired Fabian.
+
+"Up stairs somewhere. He did not come to luncheon," replied Cora.
+
+"Poor Clarence! He is awfully cut up!" said Mr. Fabian, as he left the
+parlor with Dr. Cummins. As they passed through the hall they were
+joined by Mr. Clarence, who had just heard of the doctor's arrival.
+
+"I left him very comfortable, carefully watched by old Martha, who has
+waked up refreshed after a ten hours' sleep and has taken her place by
+his bedside. There is no immediate cause for anxiety, my dear Clarence,"
+said the physician, in reply to the questions put to him.
+
+"The worst of it is, doctor, that while it was absolutely necessary for
+me to stay here during Fabian's absence, I dare not go into my father's
+room. He thinks that I am at North End. And he would become very angry
+if he knew that I was here against his will and his commands. Besides
+which, I hate deception and concealment," complained Mr. Clarence.
+
+"It is rather a difficult case to manage, my boy, but it is absolutely
+necessary that either yourself or your brother should be on hand here
+day and night; it is equally necessary that your father should be kept
+quiet. So I see nothing better to do than for you to stay here and keep
+still until you are wanted," replied the doctor.
+
+And then the three went into the little library or office at the rear of
+the hall, and what further was said among them was whispered with closed
+doors. At the end of fifteen minutes they came out. The doctor took
+leave of all the family and went away.
+
+Mr. Fabian went up to his father's door and rapped softly.
+
+Old Martha came to admit him.
+
+"How is your master? Is he awake? Can I see him?" he inquired.
+
+"Surely, Marse Fabe! Ole marse wide awake, berry easy, and 'quiring
+arter you. Come in, sar!"
+
+Mr. Fabian entered the room, which was in some darkness from the closed
+window shutters, and went up to his father's bed.
+
+"I hope you are better, sir," he said.
+
+"I don't know," said the injured man, in a faint voice.
+
+"How are the works getting on?"
+
+"Famously, sir! Splendidly! Pray do not feel the least anxiety on that
+score."
+
+"Where is Clarence?"
+
+"At North End, sir. Of course, he would not think of leaving the works
+while both you and myself are absent."
+
+"I don't know," sighed the weary invalid, for the third time. "But you
+had better not, either of you, attempt to deceive me while I am lying
+here on my back."
+
+"Not for the world, my dear father! Pray do not be doubtful or anxious.
+We are your dutiful sons, sir, and our first--"
+
+"Rubbish!" exclaimed the broken Iron King. "That will do! Go send Rose
+to me. Why the deuce did she leave? I--I--I--" His voice dropped into an
+inarticulate murmur.
+
+Mr. Fabian bent over him, and saw that he had dozed off to sleep.
+
+"Dat's de way he's been a-goin' on ebber since de doctor lef'. It's de
+truck wot de doctor give him," said old Martha.
+
+Fabian stole on tiptoe out of the room. Dinner was waiting for him down
+stairs. He would not deliver his father's selfish message to Rose,
+because he wished the poor creature to dine in peace. He told Clarence
+to give her his arm to the dining room.
+
+While they were all at dinner Violet explained to her husband why Mr.
+Rockharrt had directed her to return home. Poor Violet was very loth to
+stir up any ill feeling between the father and son; but she need not
+have feared. Mr. Fabian understood the autocrat too well to take offense
+at the dismissal of his wife.
+
+The next morning when the family physician arrived, and visited the
+injured man, he found him suffering from restlessness and a rising
+fever.
+
+He reported this condition to Mr. Clarence Rockharrt, left very
+particular directions for the treatment of the patient, and then took
+leave, with the promise to return in the evening and remain all night.
+
+Later in the afternoon the doctor, having finished all other
+professional calls for the day, arrived at Rockhold. He found his
+patient delirious. He took up his post by the sick bed for the night,
+and then peremptorily sent off the worn-out watcher, Rose, to the rest
+she so much needed.
+
+The condition of Aaron Rockharrt was very critical. Irritative fever had
+set in with great violence, and this was the beginning of the hard
+struggle for life that lasted many days, during which delirium, stupor,
+and brief lucid intervals followed each other with the rise and fall of
+the fever. A professional nurse was engaged to attend him; but the real
+burden of the nursing fell on Rose.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVI.
+
+A VOLUNTARY EXPIATION.
+
+
+Rose never lost patience. She stayed by the bedside always until the
+doctor turned her out of the room. She came back the moment she was
+called, night or day.
+
+Weeks passed and Mr. Rockharrt grew better and stronger, but Rose grew
+worse and weaker. The fine autumn weather that braced up the
+convalescent old man chilled and depressed the consumptive young woman.
+
+It was certain that Mr. Rockharrt would entirely regain his health and
+strength, and even take out a new lease of life.
+
+"I never saw any one like your grandfather in all my long practice,"
+said the doctor to Cora one morning, after he had left his patient; "he
+is a wonder to me. Nothing but a catastrophe could ever have laid him on
+an invalid bed; and no other man that I know could have recovered from
+such injuries as he has sustained. Why in a month from this time he will
+be as well as ever. He has a constitution of tremendous strength."
+
+"But the poor wife," said Cora.
+
+"Ah, poor soul!" sighed the doctor.
+
+"And yet a little while ago she seemed such a perfect picture of
+health."
+
+"My dear, wherever you see that abnormally clear, fresh,
+semi-transparent complexion, be sure it is a bad sign--a sign of
+unsoundness within."
+
+"Can nothing be done for Rose?"
+
+"Yes; and I am doing it as much as she will let me. I advise a warmer
+climate for the coming winter. Mr. Rockharrt will be able to travel by
+the first of November, and he should then take her to Florida. But, you
+see, he pooh-poohs the whole suggestion. Well--'A willful man must have
+his way,'" said the doctor, as he took up his hat and bade the lady
+good-by.
+
+A week after this conversation, on the day on which Aaron Rockharrt
+first sat up in his easy chair, Rose had her first hemorrhage from the
+lungs. It laid her on the bed from which she was never to rise.
+
+Cora became her constant and tender nurse. Rose was subdued and patient.
+A few days after this she said to the lady:
+
+"It seems to me that my own dear father, who has been absent from my
+thoughts for so many years, has drawn very near his poor child in these
+last few months, and nearer still in the last few days. I do not see
+him, nor hear him, nor feel him by any natural sense, but I do perceive
+him. I do perceive that he is trying to do me good, and that he is glad
+I am coming to him so soon. I am sorry for all the wrong I have done,
+and I hope the Lord will forgive me. But how can I expect Him to do it,
+when I can scarcely forgive--even now on my dying bed I can scarcely
+forgive--my step-mother and her husband for the neglect and cruelty that
+wrecked my life? Oh, but I forget. You know nothing of all this."
+
+Cora did know. Fabian had told her; but he had also exacted a promise of
+secrecy from her; so she said nothing in reply to this.
+
+Rose continued, speaking in a low, meditative tone:
+
+"Yes; I am sorry, sorry for the evil I have done. It was not worth while
+to do it. Life is too short--too short even at its longest. But, oh! I
+had such a passionate ambition for recognition by the great world! for
+the admiration of society! Every one whom I met in our quiet lives told
+me, either by words or looks, that I was beautiful--very beautiful--and
+I believed them; and I longed for wealth and rank, for dress and jewels,
+to set off this beauty, and for ease and luxury to enjoy life. Oh, what
+vanity! Oh, what selfishness! And here I am, with the grave yawning to
+swallow me up," she murmured, drearily.
+
+"No, dear; no," said Cora, gently laying her hand on the blue-white
+forehead of the fading woman. "No, Rose. No grave opens for any human
+being; but only for the body that the freed human being has left behind.
+It is not the grave that opens for you, Rose, but your father's arms.
+Would you like to see a minister, dear?"
+
+"If Mr. Rockharrt does not object."
+
+"Then you shall see one."
+
+Rose's sick room was on the opposite side of the hall from Mr.
+Rockharrt's convalescent apartment.
+
+If the Iron King felt any sorrow at his young wife's mortal illness, he
+did not show it. If he felt any compunction for having taxed her
+strength to its extremity, he did not express it. He maintained his
+usual stolid manner, and merely issued general orders that no trouble or
+expense must be spared in her treatment and in her interest. He came
+into her room every day, leaning on the arm of his servant, to ask her
+how she felt, and to sit a few minutes by her bed.
+
+Violet could no longer come to Rockhold, because a little Violet bud,
+only a few days old, kept her a close prisoner at the Banks. But Mr.
+Fabian came twice a week. The minister from the mission church at North
+End came very frequently, and as he was an earnest, fervent Christian,
+his ministrations were most beneficial to Rose.
+
+On the day that Mr. Rockharrt first rode out, the end came, rather
+suddenly at the last.
+
+There was no one in the house but Cora and the servants, Mr. Clarence
+having gone back to North End. Cora had left Rose in the care of old
+Martha, and had come down stairs to write a letter to her brother. She
+had scarcely written a page when the door was opened by Martha, who
+said, in a frightened tone:
+
+"Come, Miss Cora--come quick! there's a bad change. I'm 'feard to leave
+her a minute, even to call you. Please come quick!"
+
+Both went to the bedside of the dying woman, over whose face the dark
+shadows of death were creeping. Rose could no longer raise her hand to
+beckon or raise her voice to call, but she fixed her eyes imploringly on
+Cora, who bent low to catch any words she might wish to say. She was
+gasping for breath as in broken tones she whispered:
+
+"Cora--the Lord--has given me--grace--to forgive them. Write to--my
+step-mother. Fabian--will tell you--where--"
+
+"Yes; I will, I will, dear Rose," said Cora, gazing down through
+blinding tears, as she stooped and pressed her warm lips on the
+death-cold lips beneath them.
+
+Rose lifted her failing eyes to Cora's sympathetic face and never moved
+them more; there they became fixed.
+
+The sound of approaching wheels was heard.
+
+"It is my grandfather. Go and tell him," whispered Cora to old Martha
+without turning her head.
+
+The woman left the room, and in a few moments Mr. Rockharrt entered it,
+leaning on the arm of his valet.
+
+When he approached the bed, he saw how it was and asked no questions. He
+went to the side opposite to that occupied by Cora, and bent over the
+dying woman.
+
+"Rose," he said in a low voice--"Rose, my child."
+
+She was past answering, past hearing. He took her thin, chill hand in
+his, but it was without life.
+
+He bent still lower over her, and whispered:
+
+"Rose."
+
+But she never moved or murmured.
+
+Her eyes were fixed in death on those of Cora.
+
+Then suddenly a smile came to the dying face, light dawned in the dying
+eyes, as she lifted them and gazed away beyond Cora's form, and
+murmuring contented;
+
+"Father, father--" and
+
+    "With a sigh of a great deliverance,"
+
+she fell asleep.
+
+They stood in silence over the dead for a few moments, and then Mr.
+Rockharrt drew the white coverlet up over the ashen face, and then
+leaning on the arm of his servant went out of the room.
+
+Three days later the mortal remains of Rose Rockharrt were laid in the
+cemetery at North End.
+
+It was on the first of November, a week after the funeral, that Mr.
+Rockharrt, for the first time in three months, went to the works.
+
+On that day, while Cora sat alone in the parlor, a card was brought to
+her--
+
+"The Duke of Cumbervale."
+
+The Duke of Cumbervale entered the parlor.
+
+Cora rose to receive him; the blood rushing to her head and suffusing
+her face with blushes, merely from the vivid memory of the painful past
+called up by the sudden sight of the man who had been the unconscious
+cause of all her unhappiness. Most likely the old lover mistook the
+meaning of the lady's agitation in his presence, and ascribed it to a
+self-flattering origin.
+
+However that might have been, he advanced with easy grace, and bowing
+slightly, said:
+
+"My dear Mrs. Rothsay, I am very happy to see you again! I hope I find
+you quite well?"
+
+"Quite well, thank you," she replied, recovering her self-control.
+
+In the ensuing conversation, Cora made known her grandfather's accident
+and the death of Rose.
+
+"I am truly grieved to have intruded at so inopportune a time," asserted
+the visitor, and arose to take leave.
+
+Then Cora's conscience smote her for her inhospitable rudeness. Here was
+a man who had crossed the sea at her grandfather's invitation, who had
+reached the country in ignorance of the family trouble; who had come
+directly from the seaport to North End, and ridden from North End to
+Rockhold--a distance of six or seven miles; and she had scarcely given
+him a civil reception. And now should she let him go all the way back to
+North End without even offering him some refreshment?
+
+Such a course, under such circumstances, even toward an utter stranger,
+would have been unprecedented in her neighborhood, which had always been
+noted for its hospitality.
+
+Yet still she was afraid to offer him any polite attention, lest she
+should in so doing give him encouragement to urge his suit, that she
+dreaded to hear, and was determined to reject.
+
+It was not until the visitor had taken his hat in his left hand, and
+held out the right to bid her good morning, that she forced herself to
+do her hostess' duty, and say:
+
+"This is a very dull house, duke, but if you can endure its dullness, I
+beg you will stay to lunch with me."
+
+A smile suddenly lighted up the visitor's cold blue eyes.
+
+"'Dull,' madam? No house can be dull--even though darkened by a recent
+bereavement--which is blessed by your presence. I thank you. I shall
+stay with much pleasure."
+
+And now I have done it! thought Cora, with vexation.
+
+At length the clock struck two, the luncheon bell rang, and Cora arose
+with a smile of invitation. The duke gave her his arm, they went into
+the dining room. The gray-haired butler was in waiting. They took their
+places at the table. Old John had just set a plate of lobster salad
+before the guest when the sound of carriage wheels was heard approaching
+the house. In a few minutes more there came heavy steps along the hall,
+the door opened, and old Aaron Rockharrt entered the room. Cora and her
+visitor both arose.
+
+"Ah, duke! how do you do? I got your telegram on reaching North End;
+went to the hotel to meet you, and found that you had started for
+Rockhold. Had your dispatch arrived an hour earlier I should have gone
+in my carriage to meet you," said the Iron King with pompous politeness.
+
+Now it seemed in order for the visitor to offer some condolence to this
+bereaved husband. But how could he, where the widower himself so
+decidedly ignored the subject of his own sorrow? To have said one word
+about his recent loss would have been, in the world's opinion and
+vocabulary, "bad form."
+
+"You are very kind, Mr. Rockharrt; and I thank you. I came on quite
+comfortably in the hotel hack, which waits to take me back," was all
+that he said.
+
+"No, sir! that hack does not wait to take you back. I have sent it away.
+Moreover, I settled your bill at the hotel, gave up your rooms, saw your
+valet, and ordered your luggage to be brought here. It will arrive in an
+hour," said the Iron King, as he threw himself into the great leathern
+chair that the old butler pushed to the table for his master's
+accommodation.
+
+The duke looked at the old man in a state of stupefaction. How on earth
+should he deal with this purse-proud egotist, who took the liberty of
+paying his hotel bill, giving up his apartments and ordering his
+servants? and doing all this without the faintest idea that he was
+committing an unpardonable impertinence.
+
+"You are to know, duke, that from the time you entered upon my domain at
+North End, you became my guest--mine, sir! John, that Johannisberg. Fill
+the duke's glass. My own importation, sir; twelve years in my cellar.
+You will scarcely find its equal anywhere. Your health, sir."
+
+The duke bowed and sipped his wine.
+
+His future bearing to this old barbarian required mature reflection.
+Only for the duke's infatuation with Cora, it would have not have needed
+a minute's thought to make up his mind to flee from Rockhold forthwith.
+
+When luncheon was over Mr. Rockharrt invited the duke into his study to
+smoke. Before they had finished their first cigar the Iron King,
+withdrawing his "lotus," and sending a curling cloud of vapor into the
+air, said:
+
+"You have something on your mind that you wish to get off it, sir. Out
+with it! Nothing like frankness and promptness."
+
+"You are right, Mr. Rockharrt. I do wish to speak to you on a point on
+which my life's happiness hangs. Your beautiful granddaughter--"
+
+"Yes, yes! Of course I knew it concerned her."
+
+"Then I hope you do not disapprove my suit."
+
+"I don't now, or I never should have invited you to come over to this
+country and speak for yourself. The circumstances are different. When I
+refused my granddaughter's hand to you in London, it was because I had
+already promised it to another man--a fine fellow, worthy to become one
+of my family, if ever a man was--and I never break a promise. So I
+refused your offer, and brought the young woman home, and married her
+to Rothsay, who disappeared in a strange and mysterious manner, as you
+may have heard, and was never heard of again until the massacre of
+Terrepeur by the Comanche Indians--among whom, it seems, he was a
+missionary--when the news came that he had been murdered by the savages
+and his body burned in the fire of his own hut. But the horror is two
+years old now, and I am at liberty to bestow the hand of my widowed
+granddaughter on whomsoever I please. You'll do as well as another man,
+and Heaven knows that I shall be glad to have any honest white man take
+her off my hands, for she is giving me a deal of trouble."
+
+"Trouble, sir? I thought your lovely granddaughter was the comfort and
+staff of your age, and, therefore, almost feared to ask her hand in
+marriage. But what is the nature of the trouble, if I may ask?"
+
+"Didn't I tell you? Well, she has got a missionary maggot in her head.
+It's feeding on all the little brains she ever had. She wants to go out
+as a teacher and preacher to the red heathen, and spend her life and her
+fortune among them. She wants to do as Rule did, and, I suppose, die as
+Rule died. Oh, of course--
+
+    "Twas so for me young Edwin did,
+     And so for him will I!'
+
+"And all that rot. I cannot break her will without breaking her neck. If
+you can do anything with her, take her, in the Lord's name. And joy go
+with her."
+
+The young suitor felt very uncomfortable. He was not at all used to such
+an old ruffian as this. He did not know how to talk with him--what to
+reply to his rude consent to the proposal of marriage. At length his
+compassion, no less than his love for Cora, inspired him to say:
+
+"Thank you, Mr. Rockharrt. I will take the lady, if she will do me the
+honor to trust her happiness to my keeping."
+
+"More fool you! But that is your look-out," grunted the old man.
+
+The next morning when they met at breakfast Mr. Rockharrt invited his
+guest to accompany him to North End to inspect the iron mines and
+foundries, the locomotive works and all the rest of it.
+
+The duke had no choice but to accept the invitation.
+
+The two gentlemen left directly after breakfast, and Cora rejoiced in
+the respite of one whole day from the society of the unwelcome guest.
+
+She saw the house set in order, gave directions for the dinner, and then
+retired to her own private sitting room to resume her labor of love, the
+life of her lost husband.
+
+Earlier than usual that afternoon the Iron King returned home
+accompanied by their guest and by Mr. Clarence, who had come with them
+in honor of the duke. The evening was spent in a rubber of whist, in
+which Mr. Rockharrt and the duke, who were partners, were the winners
+over Cora and Mr. Clarence, their antagonists. The evening was finished
+at the usual hour with champagne and sago biscuits.
+
+The next morning, when Mr. Rockharrt and Mr. Clarence were about to
+leave the house for the carriage to take them to North End, the Iron
+King turned abruptly and said to his granddaughter:
+
+"By the way, Cora, Fabian and Violet are coming to dinner this evening
+to meet the duke. It will be a mere family affair upon a family
+occasion, eh, duke! A very quiet little dinner among ourselves. No other
+guests! Good morning."
+
+And so saying the old man left the house, accompanied by his son.
+
+Cora returned to the drawing room, where she had left the duke. He
+arose immediately and placed a chair for her; but she waved her hand in
+refusal of it, and standing, said very politely:
+
+"You will find the magazines of the month and the newspapers of the day
+on the table of the library on the opposite side of the hall, if you
+feel disposed to look over them."
+
+"The papers of to-day! How is it possible you are so fortunate as to get
+the papers of to-day at so early an hour, at so remote a point?"
+inquired the duke, probably only to hold her in conversation.
+
+"Mr. Clarence Rockharrt's servant takes them from the earliest mail and
+starts with them for Rockhold. Mr. Rockharrt usually reads the morning
+papers here before his breakfast."
+
+"A wonderful conquest over time and space are our modern locomotives,"
+observed the duke.
+
+Cora assented, and then said:
+
+"Pray use the full freedom of the house and grounds; of the servants
+also, and the horses and carriages. Mr. Rockharrt places them all at
+your disposal. But please excuse me, for I have an engagement which will
+occupy me nearly all day."
+
+The duke looked disappointed, but bowed gravely and answered:
+
+"Of course; pray do not let me be a hindrance to your more important
+occupations, Mrs. Rothsay."
+
+"Thank you!" she answered, a little vaguely, and with a smile she left
+the room,
+
+    "Rejoicing to be free!"
+
+The duke anathematized his fate in finding so much difficulty in the way
+of his wooing, his ladylove evading him with a grace, a coolness, and a
+courtesy which he was constrained to respect.
+
+He strolled into the library, and then loitered along on the path
+leading down to the ferry.
+
+Here he found the boat at the little wharf and old Lebanon on duty.
+
+"Sarvint, marster," said the old negro, touching his rimless old felt
+hat. "Going over?"
+
+"Yes, my man," said the duke, stepping on board the boat.
+
+"W'ich dey calls me Uncle Lebnum as mentions ob me in dese parts,
+marster," the old ferryman explained, touching his hat.
+
+"Oh, they do? Very well. I will remember," said the passenger, as the
+boat was pushed off from the shore.
+
+"How many trips do you make in a day?" inquired the fare.
+
+"Pen's 'pon how many people is a-comin' an' goin'. Some days I don't
+make no trip at all. Oder days, w'en dere's a weddin' or a fun'al, I
+makes many as fifty."
+
+The passage was soon made, and the duke stepped out on the west bank.
+
+"Is there any path leading to the top of this ridge, Uncle--Lemuel?"
+inquired the duke.
+
+"Lebnum, young marster, if you please! Lebnum!--w'ich dere is no paff
+an' no way o' gettin' to de top o' dis wes' range, jes' 'cause 'tis too
+orful steep; but ef you go 'bout fo' mile up de road, you'd come to a
+paff leadin' zigzag, wall o' Troy like, up to Siffier's Roos'."
+
+"Zephyr's--what?"
+
+"Roos', marster. Yes, sar. W'ich so 'tis call 'cause she usen to roos'
+up dar, jes' like ole turkey buzzard. W'en you get up dar, you can see
+ober free States. Yes, sar, 'cause dat p'ints w'ere de p'ints o' boundy
+lines ob free States meets--yes, sah!"
+
+"I think I will take a walk to that point. I suppose I can find the
+path?"
+
+"You can't miss it, sah, if you keeps a sharp look-out. About fo' miles
+up, sah"
+
+"Very well. Shall you be here when I come back?"
+
+"No, sah. Dis ain't my stoppin' place; t'other side is. But I'll be on
+de watch dere, and ef you holler for me, I'll come. I'll come anyways,
+'cause I'll be sure to see you."
+
+"Quite so," said the duke, as he sauntered up that very road between the
+foot of the mountain and the bank of the river down which the festive
+crowd had come on Corona Haught's fatal wedding day.
+
+An hour's leisurely walk brought him to the first cleft in the rock.
+
+From the back of this the path ascended, with many a double, to the
+wooded shelf on which old Scythia's hut had once stood--hidden. When he
+reached the spot he found nothing but charred logs, blasted trees, and
+ashes, as if the spot had been wasted by fire.
+
+A ray of dazzling light darted from the ashes at his feet. In some
+surprise he stooped to ascertain the cause, and picked up a ring;
+examined it curiously; found it to be set with a diamond of rare beauty
+and great value. Then in sudden amazement he turned to the reverse side
+of the golden cup that clasped the gem and saw a monogram.
+
+"I thought so," he muttered to himself; "I thought that there was not
+another such a peculiar setting to any gem in the world but that; and
+now the monogram proves it beyond the shadow of a doubt to be the same.
+But how in the name of wonder should the lost talisman be found here--in
+the ashes of some charcoal burner's hut?"
+
+With these words he took out and opened his pocket-book and carefully
+placed the ring in its safest fold, closed and returned the book to his
+pocket, and arose and left the spot. The duke turned to descend the
+mountain.
+
+At length, however, he reached the foot, and then, under the shadow of
+the ridge that threw the whole narrow valley into premature twilight, he
+hurried to the ferry.
+
+The boat was not there. Indeed, he had not expected to find it after
+what old Lebanon had told him. It was too obscure in the valley to
+permit him to see across the river, so he shouted:
+
+"Boat!"
+
+"All wight, young marster, but needn't split your t'roat nor my brain
+pan, nider! I can hear you! I's coming!" came the voice from mid-stream,
+for the old ferryman was already half across the river with a chance
+passenger.
+
+In a few minutes more the boat grated upon the shore and the passenger
+jumped out, tipped his hat to the duke, and hurried up the river road
+toward North End.
+
+"Dat pusson were Mr. Thomas Rylan', fust foreman ober all de founderies.
+Dere's a many foremen, but he be de fust. Come down long ob de ole mars
+dis arternoon arter some 'counts, I reckon, an' now gone back wid a big
+bundle ob papers an' doc'ments. Yes, sah. Get in. I's ready to start,"
+said the ferryman, as he cleared a seat in the stern of the boat for the
+accommodation of the passenger.
+
+"Who used to live in that hut on the mountain before it was burned
+down?" inquired the duke as he took his seat.
+
+"Ole Injun 'oman named Siffier."
+
+"Where did she come from?"
+
+"Dunno dat nudder. Nobody dunno."
+
+"Can't you tell me something about such a strange person who lived right
+here in your neighborhood?"
+
+"Look yere, marster, leas' said soones' mended where she's 'cerned. I
+can't tell you on'y but jes' dis: She 'peared yere 'bout twenty year
+ago, or mo'. She built dat dere hut wid her own han's, an' she use to
+make baskets an' brackets an' sich, an' fetch 'em roun' to de people to
+sell. She made 'em out'n twigs an' ornimented 'em wid red rose berries
+an' hollies an' sich, an' mighty purty dey was, an' de young gals liked
+'em, dey did. An' she made her libbin outen de money she got for her
+wares. She use to tell fortins too; an' folks did say as she tole true,
+an' some did say as she had a tell-us-man ring w'ich, when she wore it,
+she could see inter de futur; but Lor', young marse, dey was on'y
+supercilly young idiwuts as b'leibed dat trash! But she nebber would
+take no money for tellin' fortins--nebber!--w'ich was curous. De berry
+day as de gubner-leck was missin' ob, she wanished too. When de
+cons'able went to 'rest her, he foun' her gone an' de hut burnt up. Now,
+yere we is, young marse, at de lan'in', an' you can get right out yere
+'dout wettin' your feet," said the old ferryman, as he pushed the boat
+up to the dry end of the wharf.
+
+The passenger astonished the old ferryman by putting a quarter of an
+eagle in his hand, and then sprang from the boat and ran up the avenue
+leading toward the house. There was no light visible from the windows of
+the mansion. The dinner party was a strictly private family affair, and
+nothing but the solitary lamp at the head of the avenue appeared to
+guide the pedestrian's steps through the darkness of the newly fallen
+night.
+
+He reached the house, and was admitted by the old servant.
+
+When his toilet was complete, the duke went down to the drawing room to
+join the family circle.
+
+The dinner, quiet as it was, was a success. To be sure, the diners were
+all in deep mourning and the conversation was rather subdued; but, then,
+it was perhaps on that account the more interesting.
+
+The many courses, altogether, occupied more than an hour.
+
+When the cloth was drawn and the dessert placed upon the table, at a
+signal from the Iron King the butler went around the table and filled
+every glass with champagne, then returned and stood at his master's
+back. Mr. Rockharrt arose and made a speech, and proposed a toast that
+greatly astonished his company and compromised two of them. With his
+glass in his hand, he said:
+
+"My sons, daughters, and friend: You all doubtless understand the object
+of this family gathering, and also why this celebration of an
+interesting family event must necessarily be confined to the members of
+the family. In a word, it is my duty and pleasure to announce to you all
+the betrothal in marriage of his grace the Duke of Cumbervale and my
+granddaughter, Mrs. Corona Rothsay. I propose the health of the
+betrothed pair."
+
+Cora put down her glass and turned livid with dismay and indignation.
+All the other diners, the duke among them, arose to the occasion and
+honored the toast, and then sat down, all except the duke, who remained
+standing, and though somewhat embarrassed by this unexpected proceeding
+on the part of the Iron King, yet vaguely supposed it might be a local
+custom, and at all events was certainly very much pleased with it. Being
+in love and being taken by surprise, he could not be expected to speak
+sensibly, or even coherently. He said:
+
+"Ladies and gentlemen: This is the happiest day of my life as yet. I
+look forward to a happier one in the near future, when I shall call the
+lovely lady at my side by the dearest name that man can utter, and I
+shall call you not only my dear friends, but my near relatives. I
+propose the health of the greatest benefactor of the human race now
+living. The man who, by his mighty life's work, has opened up the
+resources of nature, compelled the everlasting mountains to give up
+their priceless treasures of coal and iron ore; given employment to
+thousands of men and women; made this savage wilderness of rock, and
+wood, and water 'bloom and blossom as the rose,' and hum with the stir
+of industry like a myriad hives of bees. I propose the health of Mr.
+Aaron Rockharrt."
+
+All, except Cora, arose and honored this toast.
+
+Mr. Fabian Rockharrt replied on the part of his father.
+
+Then the health of each member of the party was proposed in turn. When
+this was over the two ladies withdrew from the table and went into the
+drawing room, leaving the gentlemen to their wine.
+
+"Oh, my dear, dear Cora! I am so glad! I wish you joy with my whole,
+whole heart!" exclaimed Violet, effusively, but most sincerely and
+earnestly, as she clasped Corona to her heart. The next instant she let
+her go and gazed at Cora in surprise and dismay.
+
+"Why, what is the matter, Cora? You are as white and as cold as death.
+What is the matter?" demanded Violet as she led and half supported
+Corona to an easy chair, in which the latter dropped.
+
+"Tell me, Cora. What is it, dear? What can I do for you? Can I get you
+anything? Is all this emotion caused by the announcement of your
+betrothal to the duke?" demanded Violet, hurrying question upon
+question, and trembling even more than Cora.
+
+"Sit down, Violet. Never mind me. I shall be all right presently. Don't
+be frightened, darling," said Cora, as well as she could speak.
+
+"But let me do something for you!"
+
+"You can do nothing."
+
+"But what caused this?"
+
+"My feelings have been outraged!--outraged! That is all!"
+
+"How? How? Surely not by Mr. Rockharrt's announcement of your betrothal
+to the duke? It was rather embarrassing to the betrothed pair, I admit;
+but surely it was the proper thing to do."
+
+"'The proper thing to do!' Violet, it was false! false! I am not
+betrothed to the duke. I never was. I never shall be. I would not marry
+an emperor to share a throne. My life is consecrated to good works in
+the very field in which my dear husband died. I have said this to my
+grandfather and to you all, over and over again. If it had not been for
+Mr. Rockharrt's accident that endangered his life, I should have gone
+out to the Indian Territory with my brother, and should have been at
+work there at this present time. I shall go at the first opportunity."
+
+Cora spoke very excitedly, being almost beside herself with wrath and
+shame at the affront which had been put upon her.
+
+"I thought the duke was an old admirer of yours, and had come over on
+purpose to marry you," said Violet.
+
+"That is too true. He came against my will. I have never given him the
+slightest encouragement. How could I when my life is consecrated to the
+memory of my husband and to the work he left unfinished? I fear Mr.
+Rockharrt assured the duke of my hand; and when he heard the false
+announcement of our betrothal, he took it for granted that it was all
+right. He must have done so; though he himself was much taken by
+surprise."
+
+"How very strange of Mr. Rockharrt to do such a thing. If I had been
+you, Cora, I should have got up and disclaimed it."
+
+"No you would not. You would not have made a scene at the dinner table.
+I was in no way responsible for the announcement made by my grandfather,
+and in no way bound by it. The silence that seemed to indorse it was
+rendered absolutely necessary under the circumstances."
+
+"But what shall you do about it?"
+
+"As soon as I can speak of it without making a scene, I shall tell Mr.
+Rockharrt and the Duke of Cumbervale that a most reprehensible liberty
+has been taken with my name. I will say that I never have been, and
+never will be, engaged to the Duke of Cumbervale, or to any other man.
+That is what I shall do about it."
+
+"It would mortify the duke very much."
+
+"I do not care if it does."
+
+"And, indeed, it would put Mr. Rockharrt into a terrible rage."
+
+"I cannot help it. Here come the gentlemen."
+
+At that moment the four gentlemen entered the drawing room. The duke
+came directly up to Cora, and bending over her, said in a low voice
+inaudible to the rest of the party:
+
+"Corona, you have blessed me beyond the power of words to express! Only
+the dedication of a life to your happiness--"
+
+There the ardent lover was suddenly stopped by the cold look of surprise
+in Cora's eyes. His face took on a disturbed expression.
+
+"I think there is some serious mistake here, sir, which we may set right
+at some more fitting opportunity. Will you have the kindness not to
+refer to the comedy enacted at our dinner table to-night?"
+
+"I will obey you, although I do not understand you," said the duke.
+
+"Oblige me, duke! I want to show you a map of the projected Oregon and
+Alaska railroad," said the Iron King, coming toward his guest with a
+roll of parchment in his hands.
+
+The duke immediately arose and went off with his host to a distant
+table, where the map was spread out, and the two gentlemen sat down to
+examine it. Mr. Fabian and Mr. Clarence came over to join Cora and
+Violet.
+
+"This is a pretty march you have stolen on us, Cora! I had no more idea
+of this than the man in the moon! But I congratulate you, my dear! I
+congratulate you! Your present from me shall be a set of the most
+splendid diamonds that can be got together by the diamond merchants of
+Europe. No mere set that can be picked up ready set, eh? Diamonds that
+shall grace a duchess, my dear!" said Mr. Fabian ostentatiously.
+
+"Cora, my dear, I was as much surprised as Fabian. But, oh! I was happy
+for your sake. The duke is a good fellow, I am sure, and awfully in love
+with you. Ah! didn't he offer a just and heartfelt tribute to the
+father! I declare, Cora, I never fully appreciated my father, or
+realized what a great benefactor he was to the human race, until the
+duke made that little speech in proposing his health. How appreciative
+the duke is! Really, Cora, dear, you are a very happy woman, and I
+congratulate you with all my heart and soul; indeed, I do," said Mr.
+Clarence, wringing the young lady's hand, and turning away to hide the
+tears that filled his eyes.
+
+"Thank you, Uncle Clarence. Thank you, Uncle Fabian. I am grateful for
+your congratulations, on account of your good intentions;
+but--congratulations are quite uncalled for on this occasion."
+
+"Why--what on earth do you mean, Cora?" inquired Mr. Fabian, while Mr.
+Clarence looked full of uneasiness.
+
+"I mean that I have never been engaged to the Duke of Cumbervale, and
+never mean to marry him. Mr. Rockharrt's announcement was unauthorized
+and unfounded. It was just an act of his despotic will, to oblige me to
+contract a marriage which he favors."
+
+The two men looked on the speaker in mute amazement.
+
+"We will not talk more of this to-night. But the matter must be set
+right to-morrow," said Cora.
+
+A little later Mr. and Mrs. Fabian Rockharrt took leave and departed for
+their home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVII.
+
+UNREQUITED LOVE.
+
+
+The Duke of Cumbervale, weary of a sleepless pillow, arose early and
+rang his bell, startling his gentlemanly valet from his morning
+slumbers; dressed himself with monsieur's assistance, and went down
+stairs with the intention of taking a walk before the family should be
+up.
+
+But his intention was forestalled by the appearance of Mr. Rockharrt
+coming out of his chamber on the opposite side of the hall.
+
+The Iron King looked up in some surprise at the apparition of his guest
+at so early an hour; but quickly composed himself as he gave him the
+matutinal salutation:
+
+"Ah, good morning, duke. An early riser, like myself, eh? Come down
+into the library with me, and let us look over the morning papers."
+
+A cheerful coal fire was burning in the grate, a very acceptable comfort
+on this chill November morning.
+
+This was one of the happy days when there is "nothing in the
+papers"--that is to say, nothing interesting, absorbing, soul harrowing,
+in the form of financial ruin, highway robbery, murder, arson, fire, or
+flood. Everything in the world at the present brief hour seemed going on
+well, consequently the papers were very dull, flat, stale and
+unprofitable, and were soon laid aside by the host and his guest, and
+they fell into conversation.
+
+"You took a long walk yesterday, I hear--went across in the ferry boat,
+and strolled up to the foot of Scythia's Roost."
+
+"I did. Can you tell me anything about that curious spot?"
+
+"No; nothing but that it was the dwelling of an Indian woman, who
+pretended to second sight, and who should have been sent to the State's
+prison as a felon, or, at the very least, to the madhouse as a lunatic.
+She was burned out, or perhaps burned herself out, and vanished on the
+same night that Governor Rothsay disappeared. She was in some way
+cognizant of a plot against him that would prevent him from ever
+entering upon the duties of his office. I, in my capacity as magistrate,
+issued a warrant for her arrest, but it was too late. She was gone. It
+is said by some people that she is a Mexican Indian, who had been very
+beautiful in her youth, and who had become infatuated with an English
+tourist who admired her to such a degree that he married her--according
+to the rites of her nation. He was a false hearted caitiff, if he was an
+English lord. Having committed the folly of marrying the Indian woman,
+he should have been true to her--made the best of the bad bargain.
+Instead of which he grew tired of her, and finally abandoned her."
+
+"Did he return to his native country, do you know?"
+
+"He did not. She never gave him time. She went mad after he left her,
+followed him to New Orleans and tomahawked him on the steamboat. She was
+tried for murder, acquitted on the ground of insanity, and sent to a
+lunatic asylum. After a time she was discharged, or she escaped. It is
+not known which; most probably she escaped, as she certainly was not
+cured. She was as mad as a March hare all the time she lived here; but
+as she was harmless--comparatively harmless--it seemed nobody's business
+to have her shut up! And as I said, when at last I thought it was time
+to have her arrested on a charge of vagrancy, it was too late. She had
+fled."
+
+"Why do you suspect that she had some knowledge of a plot to make away
+with the governor-elect?"
+
+"I suspect that she was in the plot. Developments have led me to the
+conclusion. By these I learned that Rothsay was not murdered, as his
+friends feared, nor abducted, as some persons believed, but that he went
+away, and lived for many months among the Indians in the wilderness,
+without giving a sign of his identity to the people among whom he lived,
+or sending a hint of his whereabouts, or even of his existence, to his
+anxious friends. But that the massacre of Terrepeur--in which he was
+murdered and his hut was burned--occurred when it did, we might never
+have learned his fate."
+
+"Yet, still, I cannot see the ground upon which you suspect this Indian
+woman of complicity in the man's disappearance," said Cumbervale.
+
+"But I am coming to that. Scythia was a Mexican Indian. It is well known
+to travelers that the Mexican Indians possess the secret of a drug
+which, when administered to a man, will not kill him, or do him any
+physical harm, but will reduce him to a state of abject imbecility, so
+that his free will is destroyed, and he may be led by any one who may
+wish to lead him. This drug administered to Rothsay, by the woman, must
+have so deprived him of his reason as to induce him to follow any one
+influencing him."
+
+"What interest could she have had in reducing the man to this state of
+dementia?"
+
+"She had been like a mother to the young man, and had sheltered him in
+her hut for years, when he had no other home. She was very much attached
+to this adopted son of hers; she was longing to go back to her tribe and
+die among her own people. It may be that she wished to take him with
+her, and so gave him the drug that destroyed his will. Or, she may have
+been the tool of others. All this is the merest conjecture. But the
+facts remain that she foretold his fate, and that she vanished on the
+same day on which he disappeared, and that he remained in exile,
+voluntarily, until he was murdered by the Indians. Still--there might
+have been another cause for this self-expatriation."
+
+"May I inquire its nature?"
+
+"No, duke; it is only in my secret thought. I have no just right to
+speak of it to you. But if the question be not indiscreet, will you tell
+me why you take so deep an interest in the unreliable story of this
+Indian woman's life?"
+
+"Certainly; because the wild young blade who married and left her, and
+paid down his life for that desertion, was my own uncle, my father's
+elder brother, Earl Netherby, the heir to the dukedom, by whose death my
+father, and subsequently myself, succeeded to the title."
+
+"You astonish me! Are you sure of this?"
+
+"Reasonably sure. I was but five years old when my uncle came to bid us
+good-by, before setting out for America. But I remember his having on
+his finger a wonderful ring, a large solitaire diamond with certain
+flaws in it; but these flaws were very curious; they were faint traces
+left by the hand of nature shaping out a human eye. When ordinary
+mortals like myself looked at the diamond, they saw the delicate outline
+of an eye traced by the flaws in the stone; but it was said that
+whenever a clairvoyant looked into it they could see, not the human eye,
+but, as through a telescope, they could view the panorama of future
+events."
+
+"What nonsense!" said Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+"Nonsense, of course," assented the duke. "I did not speak of the ring
+on account of its supposed magic power, but because it was so peculiar a
+jewel that it would be impossible to mistake it for any other ring, or
+any other ring for itself; and to lead up to the statement that its
+discovery enabled me to identify the Mexican Indian woman with the
+maniac who murdered my uncle, as you will see very soon. When my uncle
+took leave of us, my father, noticing the family talisman--which, by the
+way, was picked up by our ancestor, Raoul-de-Netherbie, the great
+Crusader, on the battle field of Acre, and was said to have belonged to
+an Eastern magician, and has remained an heirloom with the head of our
+family ever since--inquired of his brother whether he was going to wear
+that outre jewel in open view upon his finger. My uncle answered that he
+was; and half laughing, and wholly incredulous, he added:
+
+"'You know, Hugh, that this stone is a talisman against shipwreck,
+fires, floods, robbery, murder, illness, and all the perils by land or
+by sea, and all the ills that flesh is heir to. While I wear this ring I
+expect to be safe from the evils of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
+So it shall never leave my living hand while I am away; but it shall
+bring me home safe to live to a patriarchal age and then die peacefully
+in my bed, with my children and children's children of many generations
+weeping and wailing around me.'
+
+"These or words to this effect he was speaking, while I, standing by the
+chair in which he sat, toyed with his hand, and gazed curiously upon the
+talismanic jewel, and got into my mind an impression of it that never
+was lost. My uncle soon after left the house, and we never saw him alive
+again."
+
+"He was the victim of this mad woman?"
+
+"I know it. News was slow in those days. We seldom heard from my uncle.
+His letters were but the mark of the cities he stopped at. We had one
+letter from Boston; a month later one from New York; a fortnight later,
+perhaps--for I only remember these matters by hearing them talked over
+by my parents--from Philadelphia; later still, and later, Baltimore,
+Washington, Nashville, New Orleans, and so on as he journeyed southward.
+Then came a long interval, during which we heard nothing from him, while
+all his family suffered the deepest anxiety, fearing that he had fallen
+a victim to the terrible fever that was then desolating the Crescent
+City. Then at length came a letter from his valet--a deep black-bordered
+letter--which announced the terrible news of the murder of his master by
+a Mexican Indian woman, supposed to be mad. There were no details, but
+only the explanation that he, the valet--who had seen the murder, which
+was the work of an instant--was detained in New Orleans as a witness for
+the prosecution, and should not be able to return home until after the
+trial. It was two months after the latter that the valet came back to
+England in charge of his late master's effects, which had all been
+sealed by the New Orleans authorities, and reached us intact. Only the
+family talisman was missing, and could nowhere be found. And as the
+family's prosperity, and even continuity, was supposed to depend upon
+the possession of that ring, its loss was considered only a less
+misfortune than my uncle's death. Later, my uncle's remains were brought
+home from New Orleans and deposited in the family vault at Cumbervale
+Castle.
+
+"The ring was never again heard of. On the death of my grandfather, the
+seventh duke, my father, who was the second son, succeeded to the title.
+But fortune seemed to have deserted us. By a series of unlucky land
+speculations my father lost nearly all his riches, which calamities
+preyed upon his mind so that his health broke down and he sank into
+premature old age and died. I came into the title with but little to
+support it. So that when I honestly loved a lady believed to be wealthy,
+my motives were supposed to be mercenary."
+
+The Iron King might have felt this thrust, but he gave no sign. The duke
+continued:
+
+"My after life does not concern the story of the ring. On learning,
+since my return from long travel in the East, that your fair
+granddaughter was widowed nearly two years before, you know I wrote to
+you asking her address, with a view of renewing my old suit. You replied
+by telling me that Mrs. Rothsay made her home with you, and inviting me
+to visit you. I refer to this only to keep the sequence of events in
+order. I came. Yesterday morning I went to Scythia's Roost, climbed from
+that shelf to the top of the mountain and viewed the scene from it.
+After I came down again to Scythia's Roost I sat down to rest. The sun
+was sinking behind the ridge, but through a crevice in the rocks a
+ray--'a line of golden light'--pierced and seemed to strike fire and
+bring out an answering ray from some living light left in the ashes. I
+went to see what it was, and picked up the magic ring, the family
+talisman. There it was, the wonderful stone for which no other could
+possibly be mistaken, the gem of intolerable light and fire that had to
+be shaded before it could be steadily looked at and before the delicate
+lines of its flaws delineating the human eye could be discerned. Here is
+the ring, Mr. Rockharrt. Examine it for yourself."
+
+Mr. Rockharrt took the ring, examined it curiously, turned it toward the
+clouded window, then toward the blazing sea coal fire; in both positions
+it burned and sparkled just like any other diamond. Then he shaded it
+and looked at it through his eye-glasses; finally he shook his head and
+returned it to its owner, saying:
+
+"It is a fine gem, barring a flaw, and I congratulate you on its
+recovery, but I see no human eye in it. I see some indistinct lines,
+fine as the thread of a spider's web, that is all. There is the
+breakfast bell, duke. We will go into the drawing room and find Cora.
+She must be down by this time."
+
+Cora was standing at one of the front windows, looking out upon the
+driving rain. She turned as the two gentlemen entered the room, and
+responded to their greeting.
+
+"Well, now we will go in to breakfast. Did the fresh venison come in
+time, Cora?"
+
+"I think so, sir."
+
+"We cook it on the breakfast table, duke, each one for himself. Put a
+slice on a china plate over a chafing dish. The only way to eat a
+venison cutlet," said old Aaron Rockharrt, as he led the way into the
+breakfast room, where his eyes were immediately rejoiced by the sight of
+three chafing dishes filled with ignited charcoal ready for use, and a
+covered china dish, which he knew must contain the delicate venison
+cutlets.
+
+When breakfast was over and they had all left the table, the Iron King,
+addressing his guest, said:
+
+"Well, sir, I must be off to North End. I hope you will find some way
+of entertaining yourself within doors, for certainly this is not a day
+to tempt a man to seek recreation abroad. Nothing but business of
+importance could take me out in such weather."
+
+"I regret that any cause should take you out, sir," replied the guest.
+
+As soon as the noise of the wheels had died away, the duke, who had
+lingered in the hall to see his host depart, turned and entered the
+drawing room, where he found Cora as before, standing at a window
+looking out upon the dull November day.
+
+"Will you permit me now to speak on the subject nearest my heart?" he
+pleaded, taking the hand which had dropped down by her side.
+
+"I had rather that the subject had never been started, but under the
+circumstances, after what was said last night at dinner, I feel that the
+sooner we come to a perfect understanding the better it will be," said
+Cora, leading the way to a group of chairs and by a gesture inviting him
+to be seated. Then, to prevent him further committing himself and
+incurring a humiliating refusal, she herself took the initiative and
+said:
+
+"If any other person than Mr. Rockharrt had made the public announcement
+that he did yesterday, I should have denounced the act as an
+unpardonable outrage; but of him I must say that he must have labored
+under some strange hallucination to have made such reckless assertions
+without one shadow of foundation. You yourself must have known that
+there was not one syllable of truth in his announcement."
+
+"My dearest Mrs. Rothsay, I supposed that Mr. Rockharrt thought, even as
+I hoped, that our betrothal was but the question of a few days, or even
+of a few hours, and that he took the occasion of the family gathering to
+announce the fact. He had already given his consent to my suit for the
+blessing of your hand, and if he committed an indiscretion in that
+premature announcement, I did not know it. I thought such announcement
+might be a local custom, and I blessed him in my heart for observing it.
+Cora!" he said, taking her hand and dropping his voice to a pleading
+tone, "dear Cora, it was only premature."
+
+"Duke of Cumbervale," she answered, coldly and gravely, withdrawing her
+hand, "it is not premature. It was utterly false and groundless; it was
+the declaration of an engagement that not only had never taken place,
+but could never take place--an engagement forever impossible!"
+
+"Oh, do not say that! I have kept my faith. After your grandfather's
+rejection of me in your name I could rest nowhere in England. I went to
+the Continent, and thence to the East; but still could rest nowhere,
+because I was pursued by your image. When I came back to England, I
+learned that you had been widowed from your wedding day and almost as
+long as I had been absent. I determined to renew my suit, for I
+remembered that it was not you, but your grandfather in your name, who
+rejected my proposal. I remembered that you had once given me hope."
+
+"You refer to a time of sad self-deception on my part, which led me even
+to unconsciously deceiving you. My imaginary preference for you was a
+brief hallucination. Let it be forgotten. The memory to me is
+humiliating. You must think of me only as the wife of Regulas Rothsay."
+
+"As the widow, you would say. Surely that widowhood can be no bar to my
+suit."
+
+"I do not call myself the widow of Rule Rothsay, but his wife," said
+Cora, solemnly.
+
+"But, my dear lady, surely death has--"
+
+"Death has not," said Cora, fervently interrupting him--"death cannot
+sever two souls as united as ours. I mean to spend the years I have to
+live on earth, temporarily and partially separated from my husband, in
+good works of which he would approve; with which he would sympathize and
+which would draw his spirit into closer communion with mine; and I hope
+at that ascension to the higher life which we miscall death to meet him
+face to face, to be able to tell him, 'I have finished my work, I have
+kept the faith,' and to be with him forever in one of the many mansions
+of the Father's kingdom."
+
+"I see," said the suitor, with a deep sigh, "that my suit would be
+utterly useless at present. But I will not give up the hope that is my
+life--the hope that you may yet look with favor on my love. I will merit
+that you should do so. Cora Rothsay, I will no longer vex you with my
+presence in this house. I will take leave of you even now, and only ask
+of your courtesy the use of a dog cart to take me to the North End
+Hotel."
+
+"You are good, you are very good to me, and I pray with all my heart
+that you may meet some woman much more worthy of your grace than am I,
+and that you may be very happy. God bless you, Duke of Cumbervale," said
+Cora, earnestly.
+
+He lifted her hand to his lips, kissed it, bowed over it and silently
+left the room.
+
+Cora stepped after him and shut the door; then she hastened across the
+floor, threw herself down on the sofa, buried her face in the cushions
+and gave way to the flood of tears that flowed in sympathy with the pain
+she had given. Meantime the duke went up to his room and rang for his
+valet.
+
+That grave and accomplished gentleman came at once.
+
+"Dubois, go down and order the dogcart to be at the door in half an
+hour; then return here to assist me."
+
+The Frenchman bowed profoundly and withdrew.
+
+"I have come a long way for a disappointment," murmured the rejected
+lover, as he threw himself languidly upon the outside of the bed and
+clasped his hands above his head. "A fanatic she certainly is. A lunatic
+also most probably. Yet I cannot get her out of my head. I would go to
+Canada--to Quebec--if it was not so abominably cold. Vane is there with
+the 110th. But the climate is too severe. I must move southward, not
+northward--southward, through California, and thence to the Sandwich
+Islands, New Zealand, and Australia. That will be a pleasant winter
+voyage. Talbot is at Sydney, and the climate, and the scenery, and the
+fruits and vegetables said to be the finest in the world. It will be a
+new experience, and if I can't forget her among soldiers and convicts,
+miners and bushmen--well, then, I will come back and make a third
+attempt. Well, Dubois, what is it?" This question to his valet, who just
+then re-entered the room.
+
+"The carriage will be at the door on time, your grace."
+
+"Right. Now attend to my directions. I am going immediately to North
+End, and shall leave thereby the six o'clock express, en route for San
+Francisco. After I shall have left Rockhold you are to pack up my
+effects. I shall send a hack from the hotel to fetch them. Be very sure
+to be ready."
+
+The duke went out and entered the dog cart, received his valise from his
+valet, gave the order to the groom and was driven off, without having
+again seen Cora.
+
+But from behind the screen of her lace-curtained window she watched his
+departure.
+
+"I hope he will soon forget me," she murmured, as she turned away and
+went down stairs to the library to look over the morning' papers, which
+she had not yet seen. But before she touched a paper her eyes were
+attracted by a letter stuck in the letter rack, directed to herself in
+her brother's well known handwriting.
+
+"To think that my grandfather should have neglected to give me my
+letter," she complained, as she seized and opened it.
+
+It was dated Fort Farthermost, and announced the fact of the regiment's
+arrival at the new quarters near the boundary line of Texas, "in the
+midst of a wilderness infested with hostile Indians, half-breeds, wild
+beasts, rattlesnakes and tarantulas. Only two companies are to remain
+here; my company--B--for one. Two first lieutenants are married men, but
+they have not brought their wives. One of the captains is a widower, and
+the other an old bachelor. In point of fact, there are only two ladies
+with us--the colonel's wife and the major's. And when they heard from me
+that my sister was coming to join me, they were delighted with the idea
+of having another lady for company. All the same, Cora, I do not advise
+you to come here. Will write more in a few days; must stop now to secure
+the mail that goes by this train--wagon and mule train to Arkansaw City,
+my dear."
+
+This was the substance of the young lieutenant's letter to his sister.
+
+"But 'all the same,' I shall go," said Corona. And she sat down to
+answer her brother's letter.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXVIII.
+
+A DOMESTIC STORM.
+
+
+It is a truth almost too trite for reference, that in the experience of
+every one of us there are some days in in which everything seems to go
+wrong. Such a day was this 13th of November to the Iron King.
+
+When he reached North End that morning, the first thing that met him in
+his private office was the news that certain stocks had fallen. The news
+came by telegraph, and put him in a terrible temper.
+
+This was about ten o'clock. Two hours later it was discovered that one
+of the minor bookkeepers, a new employe who had come well recommended
+about a month before, had just absconded with all he could lay his hands
+on--only a few thousand dollars--the merest trifle of a loss to
+Rockharrt & Sons, but extremely exasperating under the circumstances. So
+taking one provocation with another, at noon on that 13th of November
+old Aaron Rockharrt was about the maddest man on the face of the earth.
+
+It was his custom to lunch with his sons in the private parlor of Mr.
+Clarence's suit of rooms at the North End Hotel, every day at two
+o'clock.
+
+To-day, however, he showed no disposition to eat or drink. And although
+the two younger men were famishing for food they dared not go to lunch
+without him, or even urge him to make an effort to go with them. It was
+then three o'clock, an hour later than their usual hour, that Mr.
+Rockharrt made a movement in the desired way by rising, stretching his
+limbs, and saying:
+
+"We will go over to the hotel and get something to eat."
+
+The three men crossed the street and went directly to Mr. Clarence's
+room, where the table for luncheon was set out. But there was nothing on
+it but cut bread, casters, and condiments, for these men always
+preferred hot luncheon in cold weather, and it was yet to be dished up.
+
+The Iron King was not in a humor to wait. He hurried the servants. And
+at length when the dishes, which had been punctually prepared for two
+o'clock, were placed on the table at twenty minutes past three,
+everything was overdone, dried up, and indigestible.
+
+It was the Iron King's own fault for not coming to the table when the
+meal was first prepared to order. But he would not admit that into
+consideration. He ordered the waiter to take everything away and throw
+it out of doors, declared that he would have a restaurant started on the
+opposite side of the street where a man could get a decent meal, and
+rose from the table in a rage.
+
+It was while the Iron King was in this amiable and promising state of
+mind that a waiter brought in a card and laid it before him. He took it
+up and read aloud:
+
+"The Duke of Cumbervale."
+
+"Show him in," said Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+A few minutes later the visitor entered the parlor, bowed to his host,
+and then shook hands with the two younger men, whom he had not seen
+since the evening before.
+
+"So you braved the storm after all, duke? You found the old house too
+dreary for a long, rainy day. Take a seat," said Mr. Rockharrt, waving
+his hands majestically around the chairs.
+
+"No; it was not the weather that made Rockhold insupportable to me. But,
+sir, I have come a long way for a great disappointment," said the
+rejected lover.
+
+"What! what! what! Explain yourself, if you please, sir!" exclaimed the
+Iron King, bending his heavy gray brows over flashing eyes.
+
+"Mrs. Rothsay has rejected me."
+
+"What! what! Rejected you! Why, your engagement was declared in the
+family conclave only last night."
+
+"Mrs. Rothsay states that the declaration was erroneous, and that no
+such engagement ever has been or ever could be made between us."
+
+"How dare she say that? How dare she try to break off with you in this
+scandalous manner? But she shall not! She shall keep faith with you or
+she is no granddaughter of mine! I will have nothing to do with false
+women! How did this breach occur? Tell me all about it!
+Fabian--Clarence! Go about your business. I want to have some private
+conversation with the duke."
+
+The two younger men, thus summarily dismissed, nodded to the visitor and
+left the room, glad enough to go down below to the saloon and get
+something to eat and drink.
+
+"Now, then, sir, what's the row with my granddaughter?" demanded the
+Iron King, wheeling his chair around to face his visitor.
+
+"There is no 'row,'" said the young man, with the faintest possible hint
+of disgust in his tone and manner. "Mrs. Rothsay rejects me, positively,
+absolutely. She repudiates the announcement of our betrothal as
+unauthorized and erroneous."
+
+"But you know, as we all know, that she was engaged to you! Yes; and she
+shall keep her engagement. I'll see to that!"
+
+"Pardon me, Mr. Rockharrt, I am grieved to say that you have made a
+mistake. The lady was right. There was no engagement, between Mrs.
+Rothsay and myself at the time you made that announcement, nor has
+there been one since, nor, I fear, can there ever be."
+
+"Sir!" exclaimed the Iron King, rising in his wrath. "Did you not come
+to this country for the express purpose of asking my granddaughter's
+hand in marriage? Did I not promise her hand to you in marriage?"
+
+"You did, provi--"
+
+"Then if that did not constitute an engagement, I do not know what
+does--that is all. But some people have very loose ideas about honor.
+You ask the hand of my granddaughter; I bestow it on you, and announce
+the fact to my family."
+
+"Pardon me, Mr. Rockharrt, you promised me the hand of your
+granddaughter, provided she should be willing to give it to me."
+
+"'Provided' nothing of the sort, sir. I gave her hand unconditionally,
+absolutely, and announced the betrothal to the family."
+
+"But, my dear Mr. Rockharrt, the lady's consent is a most necessary
+factor in such a case as this," urged the young man, who began to think
+that the despotic egotism of the Iron King had in these later years
+grown into a monomania, deceiving him into the delusion that his power
+over family and dependants was that of an absolute monarch over his
+subjects. This opinion was confirmed by the next words of the autocrat.
+
+"Of course her consent would follow my act. That was taken for granted."
+
+"But, sir, her consent did not follow your act. Quite the contrary; for
+my rejection followed it. It is of no use to multiply words. The affair
+is at an end. I have bidden good-by to Mrs. Rothsay. I am here to say
+good-by to you."
+
+"You cannot mean it!"
+
+"I have left Rockhold finally. I shall leave North End by this six p.m.
+train, en route for the South," continued the rejected lover.
+
+"Then, by ----! if she has driven you out of my house, she shall go
+herself! I have done the best I could for the woman, and she has repaid
+me by ingratitude and rebellion. And she shall leave my house at once!"
+exclaimed the despot in a tone of savage resolution.
+
+"Mr. Rockharrt, I must beg that you will not visit my disappointment on
+the head of your unoffending granddaughter."
+
+"Duke of Cumbervale, you must not venture to interfere with me in the
+discipline of my own family. I don't very much like dukes. I think I
+said that once before. I rejected you for my granddaughter two years ago
+when she was bound to Rule Rothsay. Now that she is a widow and is free,
+I accepted your suit and bestowed her on you, not that I like dukes any
+better now than I did then, but I like you better as a man."
+
+The young duke bowed with solemn gravity at this compliment, repressing
+the smile that fluttered about his lips. At this moment a waiter entered
+the room, and said that "the gentleman's" servant had arrived with his
+master's luggage, and requested to know where it was to be put.
+
+"Tell him to get his dinner, and then take the luggage in the same
+carriage to the station," said the duke, and the messenger withdrew.
+
+"Have you lunched, duke?" inquired Mr. Rockharrt, mindful, even in his
+rage, of his duties as a host.
+
+"I have not thought of doing so," replied the young man.
+
+"Umph! I suppose not!" grunted the Iron King, as he rang the bell.
+
+A waiter appeared.
+
+"Any game in the house?"
+
+"Yes, sir; fine venison."
+
+"Don't want venison--had it for breakfast. Anything else?"
+
+"A very fine wild turkey, sir."
+
+"Bother! Takes three hours to dress, and I want a hot lunch got up in
+twenty-five minutes, at longest. Any small game?"
+
+"Uncommon fine partridges, sir."
+
+"Then have a dozen dressed and sent up, with proper accompaniments; and
+lose no time about it! Also put a bottle of Johannisberg on ice."
+
+"Yes, sir."
+
+The waiter vanished.
+
+"I must bid you good-by now, Mr. Rockharrt," said the duke, rising.
+
+"No; you must not. Sit down. Sit down. You must lunch with me, and drink
+a parting glass of wine. Then you will have plenty of time to secure
+your train, and I to drive to Rockhold at my usual hour. Say no more,
+duke. Keep your seat."
+
+Cumbervale looked at the iron-gray man before him, thought certainly
+this must be their last meeting and parting on earth, and that therefore
+he would not cross the patriarch in his humor.
+
+"You are very kind. Thank you. I will break a parting bottle of wine
+with you willingly."
+
+In double-quick time the broiled partridges were served, the wine
+placed, and all was ready for the two men.
+
+"Go and tell Mr. Fabian and Mr. Clarence that I wish them to come here.
+You will find them somewhere in the house," said Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+"Beg pardon, sir; both gentlemen have gone over to the works," replied
+the waiter.
+
+This was true. Both "boys" had gorged themselves with cold ham, bread
+and cheese, washed down with quarts of brown stout, and were in no
+appetite to enjoy partridge and Johannisberg, even if they had been
+found in the hotel.
+
+"Glad they have found out that they must be attentive to business. You
+and I, duke, will discuss the good things on the table before us. Come."
+
+The two lingered over the luncheon until it was time for the duke to
+start for the depot.
+
+"I will send over for my two sons, that you may bid them good-by," said
+Mr. Rockharrt, and he turned to the waiter, and told him to go and
+dispatch a messenger to that effect.
+
+Messrs. Fabian and Clarence soon put in an appearance, and expressed
+their surprise and regret at the sudden departure of their father's
+guest, and their hope and trust to see him again in the near future.
+Neither of them seemed to know that the betrothal declared at the dinner
+table on the night before had no foundation in fact. The duke thanked
+them for their good wishes, invited them to visit him if they should
+find themselves in England, and then he took a final leave of the
+Rockharrts, entered the carriage, and drove off, through a pouring rain,
+to the railway station--and out of their lives forever.
+
+"A fine thing Mistress Rothsay has done!" exclaimed the Iron King, when
+his guest had gone, and he explained Cora's action.
+
+Corona had spent the day at Rockhold drearily enough. She felt
+reasonably sure that her rejection of the duke's hand would deeply
+offend her grandfather and precipitate a crisis in her own life. When
+she had finished her letter to her brother, in which she told him of the
+death of Mr. Rockharrt's wife and added her own resolution soon to set
+out to join him in his distant fort, she began to make preparations for
+her journey in the event of having to leave Rockhold suddenly. She knew
+her grandfather's temper and disposition, and felt that she must hold
+herself in readiness to meet any emergencies brought about by their
+manifestations. So she set about her preparations.
+
+She had not much to do. The trunks that she had packed and dispatched to
+the North End railway station three months before at the hour when her
+own journey was arrested by the accident to her grandfather, had
+remained in storage there ever since.
+
+The contents of her large valise, which was to have been her own
+traveling companion in her long journey to and through the "Great
+American Desert," and which was well packed with several changes of
+clothes and with small dressing, sewing and writing cases, supplied all
+her wants during the three months of her further sojourn at Rockhold.
+
+She had only now to collect these together, cause all the soiled
+articles to be laundered, and then repack the valise. This occupied her
+all the afternoon of the short November day.
+
+At six o'clock she came down into the parlor to see that the lamps were
+trimmed and lighted, and the coal fire stirred up and replenished, so
+that her grandfather should find the room warm and comfortable on his
+return home. Then she brought out his dressing gown and slippers, hung
+the first over his arm chair and put the last on the warm hearthstones.
+
+At length the carriage wheels were heard faintly over the soft, wet
+avenue and under the pouring rain.
+
+Old John, waiting in the hall to be ready to open the door in an
+instant, did so before the Iron King should leave the carriage, and
+hoisting a very large umbrella, he went out to the carriage door and
+held it over his master while they walked back to the house and entered
+the hall.
+
+"Here! take off my rubber cloak! Take off my overcoat! Now my rubber
+boots! What a night!" exclaimed the old man, as he came out of his
+shell, or various shells.
+
+Corona had the pitcher of punch on the table now with a cut-glass goblet
+beside it.
+
+"I hope you have not taken cold, grandfather," she said, drawing his
+easy chair nearer the fire.
+
+"Hold your tongue! Don't dare to speak to me! Leave the room this
+instant! John! come in here. Pour me out a glass of that punch, and
+while I sip it draw off my boots and put on my slippers," said the Iron
+King, throwing himself into his big easy chair and leaning back.
+
+Corona was more pained than surprised. She had expected something like
+this from the Iron King. She replied never a word, but passed into the
+adjoining dining room and sat down there. Through the open door she
+could see the old gentleman reclining at his ease, and sipping his
+fragrant hot punch while old John drew off his boots, rubbed his feet,
+and put on his warm slippers. Presently the waiter brought in the soup,
+put it on the table, and rang the dinner bell. Mr. Rockharrt put down
+his empty glass, and arose and came to the table. Cora took her place at
+the head of the board, hardly knowing whether she would be allowed to
+remain there. But her grandfather took not the slightest notice of her.
+She filled his plate with soup, and put it on the waiter held by the
+young footman, who carried it to his master. In this manner passed the
+whole dinner in every course. Corona carved or served the dishes, filled
+the plate for her grandfather, which was taken to him by the footman.
+At the end of the heavy meal the Iron King arose from the table and
+said:
+
+"I am going to my own room. Mistress Rothsay, I shall have something to
+say to you in the morning;" and he went out.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXIX.
+
+CORONA'S OPPORTUNITY.
+
+
+Corona Rothsay stood behind her chair at the head of the breakfast
+table, waiting for Mr. Rockharrt. He entered presently, and returned no
+answer to her respectful salutation, but moodily took his seat, raised
+the cover from the hot dish before him, and helped himself to a broiled
+partridge. After the gloomy meal was finished the Iron King arose from
+the table and pushed back his chair so suddenly and forcibly as to
+nearly upset his servant.
+
+"Come into the library! I wish to have a decisive talk with you!" he
+said, in a harsh voice, to his granddaughter, as he strode from the
+dining room.
+
+Corona, who had finished her own slight breakfast some minutes before,
+immediately arose and followed him. On reaching the bookery, old Aaron
+Rockharrt sank heavily into his big leathern armchair, and pointed,
+sternly, to an opposite one, on which Corona obediently seated herself.
+
+"Look at me, mistress!" he said, placing his hands upon the arms of his
+chair, bending forward and gazing on her with fixed, keen eyes, that
+burned like fire beneath the pent roof of his shaggy iron-gray brows.
+
+Corona looked up at him.
+
+"Do you know, madam, that in rejecting the hand of the Duke of
+Cumbervale you have offered me an unpardonable affront?"
+
+"No, grandfather, I did not know it; and certainly I never meant--never
+could possibly have meant--to affront you," said Corona, deprecatingly.
+"If I have been so unhappy as to disappoint your wishes, I am very
+sorry, my dear grandfather, but--"
+
+He harshly interrupted her.
+
+"Do not you dare to call me grandfather, either now or ever again! I
+disclaim forever that relationship, and all relationship with the false,
+flirting, coquettish, unprincipled creature that you are! Your late
+suitor may forgive your treachery to him, beguiling him by your once
+pretended preference to pass by all eligible matches and cross the ocean
+for your sake! Yes; he may forgive you, because he is a fool (being a
+duke)! But as for me--I will never pardon the outrageous affront you
+have put upon me, in rejecting the man of my choice! Never, as long as I
+live, so help me--"
+
+"Oh!--oh, grandfather!" cried Corona, arresting his half-sworn oath,
+"don't say that! I am sorry to have crossed your will in this matter, or
+in any way; but, oh, my dear grandfather--"
+
+"Stop there!" vociferated the Iron King, with a stamp. "I am no
+grandfather of yours! How dare you insult me with the name when I have
+forbidden you to do so?"
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir. It was a mere slip of the tongue. I spoke
+impulsively. I had forgotten your prohibition. I shall not certainly
+offend in that way again," said Corona, quietly.
+
+"You had better not!"
+
+"I was about to say, when you interrupted me," resumed Cora, earnestly,
+"that I am grieved to have been compelled to disappoint you by
+rejecting the Duke of Cumbervale; but, sir, I could not do otherwise. I
+could not accept a man whom I could not love. To have done so would have
+been a great sin. Surely, sir, you must know it would have been a sin,"
+pleaded Corona.
+
+"Stuff and nonsense!" roared the Iron King. "Don't dare to talk such
+sentimental rubbish to me! You can't love him, can't you? Tell that to
+an idiot, not to me! When we were in London, two or three years ago, you
+loved him so well that you were ready to break your engagement with your
+betrothed husband, Regulas Rothsay, in order to marry this duke. Yes;
+and you would certainly have done so if I had not put a stop to the
+affair by having an explanation with the suitor, telling him of your
+prior engagement, and also of your want of fortune, and bringing you
+back home to your forgotten duties."
+
+"Oh, sir, I deserve all your reproaches for that forgetfulness. I was
+very wrong then," said Cora, with a sigh.
+
+"Bosh! You are always wrong!" sneered old Aaron Rockharrt. "And you
+always will be wrong! You were wrong when you wished to break your
+engagement with Regulas Rothsay to marry the Duke of Cumbervale, and you
+are wrong, now that you are free, to reject the man. Why, look at it:
+Now that you have been a widow for more than two years, and Cumbervale
+has proved his constancy by remaining a bachelor two years for your
+sake, and crossing the ocean and coming down here to propose for you
+again, and even after I--I myself--have positively promised him your
+hand, and have given a family dinner in honor of the occasion, and have
+announced the engagement, and after speeches have been made and toasts
+have been drank to the happiness and prosperity of your married life,
+and all due formalities of betrothal had been observed, then, mistress,
+what do you do?" severely demanded old Aaron Rockharrt.
+
+"Only my duty under the circumstances. I was not in the least bound or
+compromised by or responsible for anything that was said or done at that
+dinner table," replied Corona.
+
+"This is what you do: You dare to set me at defiance! You dare to set
+your will against mine! You dare to reject the man whom I chose for your
+husband, whom I announced as your betrothed husband! You dare to drive
+him away from my house, grieved, disappointed, humiliated, to become a
+wanderer over the face of the earth for your sake, even as you drove
+Regulas Rothsay from the goal of his ambition into exile, and--"
+
+A sharp cry from Corona suddenly stopped him in full career.
+
+"Do not, oh! do not speak of that! I--I would have given my life to have
+prevented Rule's loss, if I could! As for this man--this duke--he is
+nothing whatever to me, and never can be!"
+
+"And yet you were ready to fall down and worship him three years ago!"
+
+"It was a brief insanity--a self-delusion. That is past. Cumbervale
+never was and never can be anything to me. No man can ever be anything
+to me! I could not live Rule's wife, but I will die Rule's widow; and I
+do not care how soon--the sooner the better, if it were the Lord's
+will!" moaned Corona.
+
+"Drivel!" angrily exclaimed old Aaron Rockharrt. "I am tired of your
+idiotic, imbecile hypocrisies! Here are two men driven away by your
+unprincipled vacillation--to call your conduct by the lightest name. One
+driven to his death; one driven, it may be, to his ruin. It is quite
+time you were sent to follow your victims. Look you! I am just about to
+start for North End. I shall return home at my usual time this evening.
+Do not let me find you here when I arrive, for I never wish to see your
+false face again!" said the Iron King, rising from his arm chair and
+striding from the room.
+
+Corona started up and ran after him, pleading, imploring--
+
+"Grandfather! Dear grandfather! Oh, I beg pardon! I forgot! Sir! sir!
+Oh, do not part from me in this way!"
+
+He turned sharply, stared at her mockingly, and then demanded:
+
+"Come! Shall I call Cumbervale back? Tell him that you have changed your
+whirligig mind, and are ready to marry him, if he will only take time by
+the forelock and return before you shift around again? I can easily do
+that. I can send a telegram that will over-take him and turn him back so
+promptly that he may be here in twenty-four hours! Come! Shall I do
+that?"
+
+Corona, who had been gazing at the mocking speaker scarcely knowing
+whether he spoke in earnest or in irony, now answered despairingly:
+
+"Oh, no, no! not for the world! I have not changed my mind. I could not
+do so for any cause."
+
+"Then don't stop me. I'm in haste. I am going to North End. Don't let me
+find you here when I come back. Don't let me ever see or hear from you
+again, without your consent to marry the man I have chosen for you.
+John!"
+
+"Oh, sir, consider--" began Corona, pleadingly.
+
+"John!" vociferated the Iron King, pushing rudely past her.
+
+The old servant came hurrying up, helped his master on with his overcoat
+and with his rubber coat, then gave him his hat and gloves, and finally
+hoisted a large umbrella to hold over his master's head as he passed
+from the house to the carriage in front.
+
+Corona stood watching until the carriage rolled away and old John came
+back into the hall and closed the door. Then she returned to the library
+and sank sobbing into the big leathern chair. She now realized for the
+first time what the parting with her grandfather would be--the parting
+with the gray old man who had been the ogre of her childhood, the terror
+of her youth, and the autocrat of her maturity, and yet whom, by all the
+laws of nature, she tenderly loved, and whom by the commandment of God
+she was bound to honor.
+
+She glanced mechanically toward the card rack, and saw there another
+letter in the handwriting of her brother--a letter that had come in the
+morning's mail and had been stuck up there, and in the excitement of the
+hour had been neglected or forgotten.
+
+She seized it eagerly and tore it open, wondering what could have urged
+Sylvan to write so soon after his last letter.
+
+It was dated three weeks later than the one she had received only the
+day previous, the first one having, no doubt, been delayed somewhere
+along the uncertain route.
+
+In this letter Sylvan complained that he had not received a word from
+his dear sister since leaving Governor's Island, and mentioned that he
+himself had written all along the line of march and three times since
+the arrival of his regiment at Fort Farthermost.
+
+But he admitted, also, that the mails beyond the regular United States
+mail roads were very uncertain and irregular. Then he came to the object
+of this particular epistle.
+
+"It is, my dear Cora, to tell you," he wrote, "that if you should still
+be resolved to come out and join me here, an opportunity for your safe
+conduct will be offered you this autumn which may never occur again. Our
+senior captain--Captain Neville, Company A--has been absent on leave for
+several months. So he did not come out here with the regiment. His leave
+expires on the 30th of November. He will be obliged to start in the
+latter part of October in order to have time enough to accomplish the
+tedious journey by wagon from Leavenworth to Fort Farthermost, which is,
+as I believe I told you, in the southern part of the Indian Reserve,
+bordering on Texas. He is to bring his wife with him.
+
+"But our colonel thinks it is I who want you, and, moreover, I who need
+you; for he says that, next to a wife, a sister is the best safeguard a
+young officer can have out in these frontier forts, and he gave me the
+address of Captain Neville and advised me to write to him and ask him
+and his wife to take charge of my sister on the route.
+
+"And then, dear, he went further than that. He took my letter after I
+had written it, and inclosed it in one from himself. So now, my dear,
+all you have to do is to go to Washington, call on Mrs. Neville, at
+Brown's Hotel, Pennsylvania Avenue, and send up your card. She will
+expect you. Then you must hold yourself in readiness to start when the
+captain and his wife do."
+
+Cora had no time to indulge in reverie. She must be up and doing.
+
+Her luggage had long been stored in the freight house of the North End
+railway station, and her traveling bags had been packed the day before.
+The servants knew she was going out to join her brother, though they did
+not know that her grandfather had discarded her. She had very little to
+do for herself on that day, but she resolved to do all that she could
+for the comfort of her grandfather before she should leave the house
+forever.
+
+So she went and ordered the dinner--just such a dinner as she knew he
+would like. Then she called old John to her presence and directed him to
+have the parlor prepared for his master just as carefully as if she
+herself were on the spot to see it done; to have the fire bright; the
+hearth clean; the lamps trimmed and lighted; the shutters closed and the
+curtains drawn; the easy chair, with dressing gown and slippers, before
+the fire, and, lastly, a jug of hot punch on the hearth.
+
+Old John promised faithfully to perform all these duties. Then Cora went
+and wrote two letters.
+
+One to her brother Sylvan, in which she acknowledged the receipt of his
+letter, expressed her thanks to the colonel for his kindness, and
+assured him that she should gladly avail herself of the escort of the
+Nevilles and go out under their protection to Fort Farthermost.
+
+This letter she put in the mail bag in the hall ready for the messenger
+to take to the North End post office.
+
+The second letter was a farewell to her grandfather, in which she
+expressed her sorrow at leaving him even at his own command; her grief
+at having offended him, however unintentionally; her prayers for his
+forgiveness, and her hope to meet him again in health, happiness and
+prosperity.
+
+This letter Corona stuck on the card rack, where he would be sure to
+find it.
+
+Then she ordered her own little pony carriage, and went and put on her
+bonnet and her warm fur-lined cloak and called Mark to bring her shawls
+and traveling bags down to the hall.
+
+When all this had been done, Corona called all the servants together,
+made them each a little present, and then bade them good-by.
+
+Then she stepped into the little carriage and bade the groom to drive on
+to Violet Banks.
+
+"I think I shall go no further than that to-night, my friends, and
+leave for Washington to-morrow morning," she said, in a broken voice, as
+the pony started.
+
+"Then all ob us wot kin get off will come to bid yer annurrer good-by
+to-morrow mornin'!" came hoarsely from one of the crowd, and was
+repeated by all in a chorus.
+
+The carriage rolled down the avenue to the ferry--not that Corona
+intended to cross the river, for Violet Banks, it will be remembered,
+was on the same side and a few miles north of Rockhold--but that she
+would not leave the place without taking leave of old Moses, the
+ferryman. Fortunately the boat lay idle at its wharf, and the old man
+sat in the ferry house, hugging the stove and smoking his pipe.
+
+He came out at the sound of wheels. Corona called him to the carriage,
+told him that she did not want to cross the river, but that she was
+going away for a while and wished to take leave of him.
+
+Now old Moses had seen too many arrivals and departures to and from
+Rockhold to feel much emotion at this news; besides he had no idea of
+the gravity of this departure. So he only touched his old felt hat and
+said:
+
+"Eh, young mist'ess, hopes how yer'll hab a monsous lubly time! Country
+is dull for de young folks in de winter. Gwine to de city, s'pose, young
+mist'ess?"
+
+"Yes, Uncle Moses, I am going to Washington first," replied Corona.
+
+"Lors! I hear tell how so many folkses do go to Washintub! Wunner wot
+dey go for? in de winter, too! Lors! Well, honey, I wish yer a mighty
+fine time and a handsome husban' afore yer comes home. Lor' bress yer,
+young mist'ess!"
+
+"Thank you, Uncle Moses. Here is a trifle for you," said Cora, putting a
+half eagle in his hand.
+
+"Lor' bress yer, young mist'ess, how I do tank yer wid all my heart! I
+nebber had so much money at one time in all my life!" exclaimed the
+overjoyed old ferryman.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXX.
+
+FAREWELL TO VIOLET BANKS.
+
+
+Along the north road, between the thickly wooded east ridge and the
+swiftly running river, Corona drove on her last journey through that
+valley. Three miles up, the road turned from the river, and, with
+several windings and doublings, ascended the mountain side to the
+elevated plateau on which were situated the beautiful house and grounds
+called Violet Banks.
+
+As the carriage reached the magnificent plateau, Corona stopped the
+horse for a moment to take in the glory of the view. In the midst of her
+admiration of this scenery, two distinct thoughts were strongly borne in
+on the mind of Corona. One was that Violet Rockharrt would never be
+willing to leave this enchanting spot to make her home at Rockhold. She
+might consent to do so to please others, but she would suffer through
+it.
+
+The other thought was that old Aaron Rockharrt would never consent to
+live in a place which, however beautiful it might be, was too difficult
+of access and egress for a man of his age.
+
+What, then, could be done to cheer the old man's solitude at his home?
+The only hope lay in the chance of Mr. Clarence finding a wife who might
+be acceptable to his father, and bringing her home to Rockhold.
+
+The carriage drew up before the long, low villa, with its vine-clad
+porch, where, though the roses had faded and fallen, the still vivid
+green foliage and brilliant rose berries made a gay appearance.
+
+Violet was not sitting on the porch, beside her little wicker workstand
+basket, as she always had been found by Cora in the earlier months of
+her residence there, but, nevertheless, she saw her visitor's approach
+from the front windows of her sitting room, and ran out to meet her.
+
+"Oh, so glad to see you! And such a delightful surprise!" were the words
+with which she caught Cora in her arms, as the latter alighted from the
+carriage.
+
+"How well you look, dear. A real wood violet now, in your pretty purple
+robe," said Corona, with assumed gayety, as she returned the little
+creature's embrace, and went with her into the house.
+
+"I am going to send the carriage to the stable. You shall spend the
+afternoon and evening with me, whether you will or not, and whether the
+handsome lover breaks his heart or not!" exclaimed Violet, as they
+entered the parlor.
+
+"Don't trouble yourself, dear. See, the man is driving around to the
+stable now, and I have come, not only to spend the afternoon, but the
+night with you," said Cora, sitting down and beginning to unfasten her
+fur cloak. "Will my uncle be late in returning this evening?"
+
+"Fabian? Oh, no! this is his early day. He will be home very soon now.
+But where did you leave his grace? Why did he not escort you here?"
+inquired the little lady.
+
+"Have you not heard that he has left Rockhold?" asked Corona, in her
+turn.
+
+"Why, no. I have heard nothing about him since the night of the dinner
+given in honor of your betrothal. Are you tired, Cora, dear? You look
+tired. Shall I show you to your room, where you may bathe your face?"
+inquired Violet, noticing for the first time the pale and weary aspect
+of her visitor.
+
+"No; but you may bring the baby here to see me."
+
+"My baby? Oh, the little angel has just been put to sleep--its afternoon
+sleep. Come into the nursery, and I will show it to you," exclaimed the
+proud and happy mother, starting up and leading the way to the upper
+floor and to a front room over the library, fitted up beautifully as a
+nursery. Corona, on entering, was conscious of a blending of many soft
+bright colors, and of a subdued rainbow light, like the changes of the
+opal.
+
+Violet led her directly to the cradle, an elegant structure of fine
+light wood, satin and lace, in which was enshrined the jewel, the
+treasure, the idol of the household--a tiny, round-headed, pink-faced
+little atom of humanity, swathed in flannel, cambric and lace, and
+covered with fine linen sheets trimmed with lace, little lamb's-wool
+blankets embroidered with silk, and a coverlet of satin in alternate
+tablets of rose, azure and pearl tablets.
+
+The delighted mother and the admiring visitor stood gazing at the babe,
+and talking in low tones for ten or fifteen minutes perhaps, and were
+then admonished by the nurse--an experienced woman--that it was not good
+for such young babies to be looked over and talked over so long when
+they were asleep.
+
+Violet and her visitor softly withdrew from the cradle, and Corona had
+leisure to look around the lovely room, the carpet of tender green, like
+the first spring grass, and dotted over with buttercups and daisies; the
+wall paper of pearl white, with a vine of red and white roses running
+over it; the furniture of curled maple, upholstered in fine chintz, in
+colors to match the wall paper. But the window curtains were the marvels
+of the apartment. There were two high front windows, draped in rainbow
+silk--that is, each breadth of the hangings was in perfect rainbow
+stripes, and the effect of the light streaming through them was soft,
+bright, and very beautiful.
+
+"It is a creation! Whose?" inquired Corona, as she stood before one of
+the windows.
+
+"Well, it was my idea, though I am not at all noted for ideas, as
+everybody knows," said Violet, with a smile. "But I wanted my baby's
+first impressions of life to be serenely delightful through every sense.
+I wanted her to see, when she should open her eyes in the morning, a
+sphere of soft light and bright, delicate shades of color. So I prepared
+this room."
+
+"But where did you find the rainbow draperies?"
+
+"Oh, them! I designed them for my baby, and Fabian sent the pattern to
+Paris, and we received the goods in due time. I will tell you another
+thing. I have an Æolian harp for her. It is under the front window of
+the upper hall, but its aerial music can reach her here when it is in
+place. When she is a little stronger I am going to have a music box for
+her. Oh, I want my little baby to live in a sphere of 'sweet sights,
+sweet sounds, soft touches.'"
+
+A brisk, firm footstep, a cheery, ringing voice in the hall below,
+arrested the conversation of the two women.
+
+"It is Fabian! Come!" exclaimed Violet, joyfully, leading the way down
+stairs.
+
+Mr. Fabian stood at the foot. He embraced his young wife boisterously,
+and then seeing Cora coming down stairs behind Violet, went and shook
+hands with his niece, saying:
+
+"Glad to see you! Glad to see you! Has Violet been showing you our
+little goddess? I tell you what, Cora: everything has changed since that
+usurper came. This place is no longer 'Violet Banks' It is the Holy
+Hill. This house is the temple; that nursery is the sanctuary; that
+cradle is the altar; and that babe is the idol of the community. Now go
+along with Violet. Oh! she is high priestess to the idol. Go along. I'm
+going to wash my face and hands, and then I'll join you."
+
+Mr. Fabian went up stairs, and Cora followed Violet into the parlor.
+
+"Here are the English magazines, my dear, come this morning. Will you
+look over them, while I go and see to the dinner table? I will not be
+gone more than ten minutes," said Violet, lifting a pile of pamphlets
+from a side table and placing them on a little stand near the easy chair
+into which Corona had thrown herself.
+
+"Certainly, Violet, love. Don't mind me. Go."
+
+Violet kissed her forehead and left the room.
+
+Cora never touched the magazines, but sat with her elbow on the stand
+and her forehead resting on her hand.
+
+She sat motionless, buried in painful thought until her Uncle Fabian
+entered the room.
+
+Then she looked up.
+
+He came and sat down near her; looked at her inquiringly for a few
+moments; and then, as she did not break the silence, he said:
+
+"Well, Cora?"
+
+"Well, Uncle Fabian?"
+
+"What is up, my dear?"
+
+"I would rather defer all explanations until after dinner, if you
+please."
+
+"Very well, my dear Cora."
+
+And indeed there was no time for further talk just then, for Violet came
+hurrying into the room laughing and exclaiming:
+
+"I am the pink of punctuality, Cora, dear. Here I am back again in just
+ten minutes."
+
+The next moment the dinner bell rang, and they all went into the dining
+room.
+
+Violet--trained by Mrs. Chief Justice Pendletime, who was a great
+domestic manager--excelled in every housekeeping department, especially,
+perhaps, in the culinary art; so the little dinner was an exquisite one,
+and thoroughly enjoyed by the master and mistress of the house, and
+might have been equally appreciated by their visitor if her sad thoughts
+had not destroyed her appetite.
+
+After dinner, when they adjourned to the parlor, Violet said:
+
+"Again I must beg you to excuse me, Cora, dear, while I go up and put
+baby to sleep. It is a little weakness of mine, but I always like to put
+her to sleep myself, though I have the most faithful of all nurses. You
+will excuse me?"
+
+"Why, of course, darling!" Corona heartily replied; and the happy little
+mother ran off.
+
+"Now then, Cora, what is it? You said you would explain after dinner. Do
+so now, my dear; for if it is anything very painful I would rather not
+have my Wood Violet grieved by hearing it," said Mr. Fabian, drawing his
+chair nearer to that of Corona.
+
+"It is very painful, Uncle Fabian, and I also would like to shield
+Violet as much as possible from the grief of knowing it. But--is it
+possible that you do not know what has happened at Rockhold?" gravely
+inquired Corona.
+
+"I know this much: That the announcement of an engagement between
+yourself and the Englishman was premature and unauthorized; that you
+have finally rejected the suitor--who has since left Rockhold--and by so
+doing you have greatly enraged our Iron King. I know no more than that,
+Cora."
+
+"What! Has not my grandfather told you anything to day?"
+
+
+"Not one word."
+
+"Then I must tell you. He has cast me off forever."
+
+"Cora! Cora!"
+
+"It is true, indeed. This morning he ordered me to quit his house; not
+to let him find me still there on his return; never to let him see or
+hear from me again unless it was with my consent to recall and marry my
+English suitor."
+
+"But, Cora, my dear, why can you not come into his conditions? Why can
+you not marry Cumbervale? He is a splendid fellow every way, and he
+loves you as hard as a horse can kick. He is awfully in love with you,
+my dear. Now, why not marry him and make everybody happy and all
+serene?"
+
+"Because, Uncle Fabian, I don't happen to be in love with him," replied
+Corona, with just a shade of disdain in her manner.
+
+"Well, my dear, I will not undertake to persuade you to change your
+mind. If you have inherited nothing else from the Iron King, you have
+his strength of will. What are you going to do, Cora?"
+
+"I am going to carry out my purpose of going to the Indian Reserve as
+missionary to the Indian tribes, to devote all my time and all my
+fortune to their welfare."
+
+"A mad scheme, my dear Cora. How are you, a young woman, going to manage
+to do this? Under the auspices of what church do you act?"
+
+"Under that of the broad church of Christian charity--no other."
+
+"But how are you going to reach the field of your labors? How are you
+going to cross those vast tracts, destitute of all inhabitants except
+tribes of savages, destitute of all roads except the government
+'trails'?"
+
+"You know, if you have not forgotten, that it was my purpose to join my
+brother at his post, and to establish my school near his fort and under
+its protection."
+
+"Well, yes; I remember hearing something of the sort; but really, Cora,
+I thought it was all talk since Sylvan went away."
+
+"But it is more than that. Some time late in this month I shall go out
+to Fort Farthermost under the protection of Captain and Mrs. Neville.
+They are now in Washington, where I am going immediately to join them.
+When you read this letter, which I received after my grandfather had
+left me in anger this morning, you will understand all about it," said
+Corona, drawing her brother's last letter from her pocket and handing it
+to her uncle.
+
+Mr. Fabian took it and read it carefully through; then returned it to
+her, saying:
+
+"Well, my dear, it does seem as if there were a fate in all this. But
+what a journey is before you! At this season of the year, too! But,
+Cora, do not let Violet know that the grandfather has discarded you. It
+would grieve her tender heart too much. Just tell her that you are going
+out to your brother. Do not even tell her so much as that to-night. It
+would keep her from sleep."
+
+"I will not hint the subject this evening, Uncle Fabian. I love Violet
+too much to distress her."
+
+"You will have to explain that your engagement with the Englishman is at
+an end."
+
+"Or, rather, that it has never had a beginning," said Corona.
+
+"Very well," assented Mr. Fabian. "And now I must go and dispatch a
+messenger to North End to fetch Clarence here to spend the night. A
+hasty leave-taking at the railway depot would hardly satisfy Clarence,
+Cora."
+
+"I know! And I thank you very much, Uncle Fabian," replied Corona.
+
+"Ah, Violet! here you are, just in time to take my place. I am going out
+to send for Clarence to spend the evening with us," said Mr. Fabian, as
+he passed his young wife, who entered the room as he left it.
+
+Instead of sending a messenger, Fabian put his fastest horse into his
+lightest wagon, and set off at his best speed himself. He reached North
+End Hotel in twenty minutes, and burst in upon Clarence, finding that
+gentleman seated in an arm chair before a coal fire.
+
+"Anything the matter, Fabian?" he inquired, looking up in surprise.
+
+"Yes! The devil's to pay! The monarch has driven his granddaughter from
+court!" exclaimed the elder brother, throwing his hat upon the floor,
+and dropping into a chair.
+
+"You don't mean to say--"
+
+"Yes, I do! Father has turned Cora out of doors because she refused to
+marry the Englishman."
+
+"Good Heaven!"
+
+"Come! There is no time to talk! Cora is at my house. She leaves for
+Washington to join Captain and Mrs. Neville, and go out with them to
+Fort Farthermost."
+
+"But, look here, Fabian. Why do you let her do that?"
+
+"Don't be a fool! Who is to stop her if she is bound to go? Come, hurry
+up; put on your overcoat and get into my trap, and I will take you back
+with me, see Cora, and stay all night with us."
+
+Mr. Clarence started up, rang for a waiter to see to his rooms, then put
+on his overcoat, and in five minutes more he was seated beside his
+brother in the light wagon, behind the fastest horse in Mr. Fabian's
+stables, bowling out of the village at a rate of speed that I would not
+dare to state. It was not nine o'clock when they reached Violet Banks.
+
+Mr. Fabian drove around to the stables, gave his team up to the groom,
+and walked back to the house with Clarence.
+
+"You must not drop a word to Violet about Cora's intended journey. She
+thinks that Cora has only come to spend the night with her. If she knew
+otherwise she would be too distressed to sleep. Not until after
+breakfast to-morrow is she to be told that Cora is going away; and never
+is she to know that our niece has been driven away."
+
+"I understand, Fabian. Who is going to Washington with Cora?"
+
+"No one that I know of; but she is quite able to take care of herself,
+so far."
+
+"I will not have it so, Fabian. I will go with our niece!" said Mr.
+Clarence.
+
+"Are you mad? The monarch would never forgive such misprision of
+treason. He would discard you, Clarence!" exclaimed Mr. Fabian, in
+consternation.
+
+"I do not think so. Our father is too just for that. And in any case I
+shall take the risk."
+
+"The Iron King is just in all his business relations; he would not be
+otherwise to save himself from bankruptcy. But has he been just to
+Cora?"
+
+"From his point of view. He has not been kind; that is all. I must be
+kind to our niece at all costs."
+
+This brought them to the door of the house, which Mr. Fabian opened with
+his latch key, and the two men entered the parlor together.
+
+"Why, how soon you have come! I am so glad!" exclaimed Violet, rising to
+welcome the new visitor.
+
+"That is because, instead of sending, I went for him," explained Mr.
+Fabian.
+
+"So I suspected when I found that you did not return immediately to the
+parlor," said Violet.
+
+Mr. Clarence meanwhile went to his niece, took her hand and kissed her
+in silence. He could not trust his voice to speak. She understood him,
+and returned the pressure of his hand. If it had not been for Violet,
+the evening would have passed very gloomily; but she, who knew nothing
+of the domestic tempest that had driven Cora from home, nor even of the
+impending separation in the morning, and who heartily enjoyed the
+presence of her two favorite relatives in the house, kept the party
+enlivened by her own good spirits and gay talk.
+
+Once during the evening Clarence and Cora found themselves far enough
+off from their friends for a short tete-a-tete, in which there was a
+brief but perfect explanation between them.
+
+Then Clarence announced his intention of escorting her to Washington and
+seeing her safe under the protection of the Nevilles.
+
+Cora strongly opposed this plan, on the ground that his escort was
+unnecessary and might be deeply offensive to Mr. Rockharrt.
+
+But Clarence was firm.
+
+"You may turn your back on me, Cora. You may refuse to speak to me
+during the whole journey. But you cannot prevent me from going on the
+same train with you, and so becoming your guardian on the journey," said
+Clarence.
+
+Cora's answer to this was prevented by the approach of Violet, who said:
+
+"Clarence, it is half past eleven o'clock, and Cora looks tired to
+death. Your room is ready whenever you would like to retire."
+
+Acting upon this very broad hint, Mr. Clarence laughed, kissed his niece
+good night, shook hands with his sister-in-law, and left the room,
+preceded by Mr. Fabian, who offered to show him to his chamber. Violet
+conducted Cora to the room prepared for her, and, with a warm embrace,
+left her to repose for the last time in that house.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXI.
+
+"IT IS THE UNEXPECTED THAT HAPPENS."
+
+
+After her exciting and fatiguing day, Corona slept long and heavily, and
+when she reached the family sitting room she found her two uncles there
+in conversation.
+
+"I am sorry I kept you waiting, Uncle Fabian," she said, hurriedly.
+
+"You have not done so, my dear. The bell has not yet rung."
+
+"Then I'm glad. Good morning, Clarence," she said, turning to her
+younger uncle.
+
+"Good morning, Cora. How did you sleep?"
+
+"Perfectly, Clarence dear. I hope you will set out for North End
+immediately after breakfast. I shall not start for Washington until
+to-night. I shall spend the day here, so that after telling Violet of my
+intended journey I may have some little time to reconcile her to it."
+
+"How good you are, Cora. I do appreciate this consideration for Violet,"
+said Mr. Fabian earnestly.
+
+"It is only her due, uncle. Well, Clarence, since you are determined to
+escort me to Washington, whether or not, you may meet me at the depot
+for the 6:30 express. I feel that it is every way better that I should
+go by the night train; better for Violet, with whom I can thus spend a
+few more hours, and better for Clarence, who need not by this
+arrangement lose this day's work."
+
+"Quite so," assented Mr. Fabian. "And now," he added, as light footsteps
+were heard approaching the room, "here comes Violet. Not a word about
+the journey until after breakfast."
+
+They all went into the breakfast room, where a fragrant, appetizing
+morning meal was spread.
+
+How different this was from the breakfast at Rockhold on the
+preceding-day, darkened by the sullen wrath of the Iron King and eaten
+in the most gloomy silence! Here were affectionate attentions and jests
+and laughter. Violet was in such gay spirits that her vivacity became
+contagious, and Fabian and Clarence often laughed aloud, and Corona was
+won to smile at her sallies.
+
+At last Mr. Fabian arose with a sigh, half of satisfied appetite, half
+of reluctance to leave the scene, and said:
+
+"Well, I suppose we must be moving. Clarence, will you drive with me to
+North End?"
+
+"Certainly. That is all arranged, you know," replied the younger
+brother.
+
+"Mr. Fabian walked out into the hall, saying as he left the breakfast
+room:
+
+"Corona, a word with you, my dear."
+
+Corona went to him, and he said:
+
+"After you have had an explanation with Violet, persuade her to
+accompany you to North End. You had better come in your own pony
+carriage, my dear; it is so easy and the horse so safe. And then, after
+you have left us, I can drive her home in the same vehicle. And, by the
+way, my dear, what shall you do with that little turnout? Shall I send
+it to Hyde's livery stable for sale? You can get double what was given
+for it. And remit you the price?"
+
+"No, Uncle Fabian; it is not to be sold. And I am glad you reminded me
+of it. I have intended all along to give it to our minister's wife. She
+has no carriage of any sort, and she really needs one, and she will
+enjoy this because she can drive the pony herself. So, after I have
+gone, will you please send it to Mrs. Melville, with my love?"
+
+"Certainly, my dear; with the greatest pleasure. Cora, that is well
+thought of. Now I must go up to the nursery and bid good-by to baby, or
+her mother would never forgive me."
+
+And high and heavy Mr. Fabian tripped up the stairs like a lamplighter.
+
+Corona lingered in the hall, talking with Mr. Clarence, who had now come
+there to put on his overcoat. Presently Mr. Fabian came hurrying down
+stairs alone. He had left Violet in the sanctuary.
+
+"Come, come, Clarence, hurry up! We are late! What if the monarch should
+reach the works before us? I shouldn't like to meet him in his roused
+wrath! Should you?
+
+    "Old age ne'er cooled the Douglass blood!"
+
+said Mr. Fabian, hurriedly pulling on his overcoat, seizing hat and
+gloves, and with a hasty--
+
+"Good-by, Cora, until to-night," hurried out of the front door.
+
+He need not have been in such haste--the Iron King was not destined to
+reach North End in advance of his sons that morning.
+
+Mr. Clarence kissed Corona good-by, and hurried after his elder brother,
+and then stopped short at what he saw.
+
+Mr. Fabian was standing before the carriage door with one foot on the
+step.
+
+Beside him was a horseman who had just ridden up--the horse in a lather
+of foam, the man breathless and dazed--telling some news in broken
+sentences; Mr. Fabian listening pallid and aghast.
+
+"Great Heaven! how sudden! how shocking!" he exclaimed at last, turning
+back toward the house, and hurrying up the steps.
+
+"What is it? What is the matter? What has happened, Fabian?" anxiously
+demanded Clarence.
+
+"The father has had a stroke! No time for particulars now! Take the
+fastest horse in the stable and go yourself to North End to fetch the
+doctor. You can bring him sooner than any servant. I must go directly on
+to Rockhold. Cora must delay her journey again. Be off, Clarence!" said
+Mr. Fabian.
+
+And while the elder brother returned to the house, the younger went to
+get his horse.
+
+"Cora!" called Mr. Fabian.
+
+Corona came out of the parlor.
+
+"You cannot go away to-day."
+
+"Why?" inquired the young lady.
+
+"Don't talk! Listen! Your grandfather is ill--very ill. Old John has
+just come from Rockhold to tell me."
+
+"Oh! I am very sorry."
+
+"No time for words! Go put on your bonnet, and come along with me; the
+carriage that was to have taken me to North End must take us both to
+Rockhold. Hurry, Cora."
+
+"But Violet?"
+
+"I will go and tell Violet that the grandfather is not feeling very
+well, and has sent for you. I can do this while you are getting ready to
+go. Then come into the nursery and bid Violet good-by."
+
+Corona hurried up to her room, and quickly put on her bonnet and
+fur-lined cloak, and then ran into the nursery, where she found Violet
+nursing her baby, looking serious but composed, and evidently
+unconscious of old Aaron Rockharrt's danger. Mr. Fabian was standing at
+the back of her chair, so that she might not read the truth in his face.
+
+"So you are going home so suddenly, Cora, dear? I am so sorry the father
+is not feeling well that I cannot even ask you to stay here a moment
+longer. Give my love to the father, and tell him if he does not get
+better in a day or two I shall be sure to come and nurse him."
+
+She could not rise without disturbing her precious baby, but she raised
+her head and put up her lips, that Cora might kiss her good-by. Then
+Cora followed her uncle down stairs, and in five minutes more they were
+seated in the carriage, slowly winding their way down the dangerous
+mountain pass to the river road that led to Rockhold.
+
+"Uncle Fabian," said Corona, gravely, "I have been trying to think what
+is right for me to do. This sorrowful news took me so completely by
+surprise, and your directions were so prompt and peremptory, that I had
+not a moment for reflection; so that I followed your lead automatically.
+But now, Uncle Fabian, I have considered, and I ask you as I have asked
+myself--am I right in going back to Rockhold, after my grandfather has
+sent me away, and forbidden me ever to return? Tell me, Uncle Fabian."
+
+"My dear, what do you yourself wish to do?" he inquired.
+
+"To return to Rockhold and nurse my grandfather, if he will allow me to
+do so."
+
+"Then by all means do so."
+
+"But, Uncle Fabian--against my grandfather's express command?"
+
+"Good Heaven, girl!" Those 'commands' were issued by a well and angry
+man. You are returning to minister to an ill and perhaps a dying one."
+
+"Still, Uncle Fabian, would it not seem to be taking advantage of my
+grandfather's helpless state to return now, after he had forbidden me to
+enter his house? I think it would. And the more I reflect upon the
+subject, the surer I feel that I ought not to enter Rockhold unbidden.
+And--I will not."
+
+"You will not! What! Can you show resentment to your stricken--it may be
+dying--grandfather?"
+
+"Heaven forbid! But I must not disobey his injunction, now that he is
+too helpless to prevent me. No, Uncle Fabian, I must not enter the
+house. But neither will I be far from it. I will remain within call."
+
+"Where?"
+
+"At the ferryman's cottage. Will you, Uncle Fabian, as soon as you have
+an opportunity, say that I am deeply grieved for all that has estranged
+us. Will you ask him to forgive me and let me come to him?"
+
+"Yes; I will do so, my dear, if there is an opportunity. But, Cora, I
+think you are morbidly scrupulous. I think that you should come to the
+house. He may wish to see you if he should have a lucid interval, and
+there may not be time to send for you."
+
+"I must risk that rather than disobey him in his extremity."
+
+"As you will," replied Mr. Fabian. And no more was said on the subject.
+
+When they reached the foot of the mountain and the level of the river
+road, the horses were put upon their speed, and they soon arrived at
+Rockhold.
+
+"I will wait in the carriage until you go in and inquire how he is,"
+said Corona, as the vehicle drew up before the front door.
+
+Mr. Fabian got out and hurried up the steps. The door stood open, cold
+as the day was, and all things wore the neglected aspect of a dwelling
+wherein the master lay stricken unto death. The housekeeper, Martha,
+was coming down the stairs and crying.
+
+"How is your master?" breathlessly inquired Mr. Fabian.
+
+"Oh, Marse Fabe, sir, jes' livin', an' dat's all!" sobbed the woman.
+"Dunno nuffin. Layin' dere jes' like a dead corpe, 'cept for breavin'
+hard," wept the woman.
+
+"Who is with him?"
+
+"Me mos' times an' young Mark. I jes' come down to speak 'long o' you,
+Marse Fabe, w'en I see de carriage dribe up."
+
+"Well, go back to your master. I will speak to my niece, and then come
+in," said Mr. Fabian, as he hurried out to the carriage. All his
+interview with the housekeeper had not occupied two minutes, but Cora
+was pale with suspense and anxiety.
+
+"How is he?" she panted.
+
+"Unconscious, my poor girl. Oh, Cora! come in!"
+
+"No, no; I must not. Not until he permits me. I will stop at the
+ferryman's cottage. Oh, if he should recover consciousness--oh, Uncle
+Fabian, ask him to let me come to him, and send me word."
+
+"Yes, yes; I will do it. I must go to him now. Charles," he said,
+turning to the coachman, "drive Mrs. Rothsay down to the ferry house,
+and then take the carriage to the stables."
+
+And then, with a grave nod to Corona, Mr. Fabian re-entered the house.
+The coachman drove the carriage down to the ferryman's cottage and drew
+up. The door was open and the cottage was empty.
+
+"Boat on t'other side, ma'am," said Charles.
+
+"For the doctor, I suppose--and hope," said Corona, looking across the
+river, and seeing a gig with two men coming on to the ferryboat.
+
+She watched from the door of the ferryman's cottage while Charles drove
+off the empty carriage toward the stables and the two ferrymen poled
+their boat across the river. She retreated within the house before the
+boat touched the land, for she knew that the doctor, if he should see
+her there, would wonder why she was not at her grandfather's bedside,
+and perhaps--as he was an old friend--he might ask questions which she
+would find it embarrassing to answer. The boat touched the shore; the
+gig, containing the doctor and Mr. Clarence, rolled off the boat on
+along the drive leading to the house.
+
+Meanwhile Mr. Fabian had re-entered the hall and hurried up to his
+father's room. He found the Iron King in bed, lying on his right side
+and breathing heavily. His eyes were half closed.
+
+"Father," said the son, in a low voice, taking his hand and bending over
+him.
+
+There was no response.
+
+"It ain't no use, Marster Fabe. Yer can't rouse him, do wot yer will.
+Better wait till de doctor come, young marse. I done been tried all I
+knowed how, but it wa'n't no use," said Martha, who stood on the other
+side of the bed watching her insensible master.
+
+"Tell me when this happened. Come away to the upper end of the room and
+tell me about it."
+
+"Might's well tell yer right here, marse. 'Twon't sturve him. Lor!
+thunder wouldn't sturve him, the way he is in."
+
+"Then tell me, how was it? When was he stricken?"
+
+"We don't know, marse. He was found jes' dis way by John dis
+mornin'--not jes zackly dis way, howaseber, case he was a-layin' on his
+lef side, w'ich was berry bad; so me an' John turn him ober jes so like
+he is a-layin' now. Den we sent right off for you, marse, to ketch yer
+at home 'fore yer went to de works."
+
+"Did he seem well when he came home last night?'
+
+"Jes 'bout as ujual, marse. He came in, an' John he waited on him. An he
+ax, ole marse did, 'was Mrs. Rossay gone?' W'ich John tole him she were.
+Den he ordered dinner to be fotch up. An' John he had a pitcher ob hot
+punch ready. An' ole marse drank some. Den he went in to dinner all by
+hisself. An' young Mark he waited on de table, w'ich he tell me, w'en I
+ax him dis mornin', how de ole marse eat much as ujual, wid a good
+relish. Den arter dinner he went to de liberairy and sot dere a long
+time. Ole John say it were midnight 'fo' de ole marse walk up stairs an'
+call him to wait on him."
+
+"Was John the last one who saw my father before he was found unconscious
+this morning?"
+
+"Hi! yes, young marse, to be sure he were. De las' to see de ole marse
+in healt' las' night, an' de firs' to fine him dis way dis mornin'."
+
+"How came he to find his master in this condition?"
+
+"It was dis way. Yer know, young marse, as dere is two keys to ole
+marser's do', w'ich ole marse keeps one in his room to lock hisse'f in,
+an' John keeps one to let hisse'f in wen de ole marse rings for him in
+de mornin'."
+
+"Yes; I know."
+
+"Well, dis mornin' de ole marse didn't ring at his ujual hour. An' de
+time passed, an' de breakfast were ready an' spilin'. So I tole John how
+he better go up an' see if ole marse was well, how maybe he didn' feel
+like gettin' up an' might want to take his breakfas' in bed. But Lor! I
+nebber participated sich a sarious 'tack as dis. Well, den, John he went
+an' rapped soft like. But he didn't get no answer. Den he rap little
+louder. But still no answer. Den John he got scared, awful scared. Las'
+John he plucks up courage, an' unlocks de do', slow an' saf', an' goes
+in on tiptoe to de bedside, an'--an'--an'--dis yer is wot he seen. He
+t'ought his ole marse were dead sure, an' he come howlin' an' tumblin'
+down to me, an' tole me so, an' I called young Mark to follow me, case
+ole John wa'n't no good, an' I run up yere, an'--an'--an' dis yer is wot
+I foun'! O'ly he were a layin' on his lef side, an' I see he were
+breavin' an' I turn' him ober on his right, an' did all I could for him,
+an' sent John arter you."
+
+"I wish the doctor would come," said Mr. Fabian, anxiously, as he took
+his father's hand again and tried to feel the pulse.
+
+The door opened very quietly, and Clarence came into the room. Fabian
+beckoned him to approach the bed.
+
+"How is he?" inquired the younger man.
+
+"As you see! He was found in this condition by his servant this morning.
+He has shown no sign of consciousness since," replied the elder.
+
+"The doctor is below. Shall he come up now?"
+
+"Certainly."
+
+Clarence left the room and soon returned with the physician. After a
+very brief examination of pulse, temperature, the pupils of the eyes of
+the patient, prompt measures were taken to relieve the evident pressure
+on the brain. The doctor bled the sufferer, who presently opened his
+eyes, and looked slowly around his bed. His two sons bent over him.
+
+He tried to speak.
+
+They bent lower still to listen.
+
+After several futile efforts he uttered one word:
+
+"Cora."
+
+"Yes, father--she is here. Go, Clarence, and fetch her at once. She is
+at the ferryman's cottage."
+
+The last sentence was added in a low whisper. Clarence immediately left
+the room to do his errand. A few minutes later the door opened softly,
+and Clarence re-entered the room with Cora.
+
+Mr. Fabian went to meet her, saying softly:
+
+"He has called for you, my dear! The only word he has spoken since he
+recovered consciousness was your name."
+
+"So Uncle Clarence told me," she said, in a broken voice.
+
+"Come to him now," said Fabian, leading her to the bedside.
+
+She sank on her knees and took the hand of the dying man and kissed it,
+pleading:
+
+"Grandfather, dear grandfather, I love you. I am grieved at having
+offended you. Will you forgive me--now?"
+
+He made several painful efforts to answer her, before he uttered the few
+disconnected words:
+
+"Yes--forgive--you--Cora."
+
+She bathed his hand with her tears. All on her part also was forgotten
+now--all the harshness and despotism of years was forgotten now, and
+nothing was remembered but the gray-haired man, always gray-haired in
+her knowledge of him, who had protected her orphanage and given her a
+home and an education. She knelt there, holding his hand, and was
+presently touched and comforted because the lingers of that hand closed
+on hers with a loving pressure that they had never given her in all her
+life before. That was the last sign of consciousness he gave for many
+hours.
+
+Mr. Fabian took the doctor aside.
+
+"Ought I to send for my wife?" he inquired.
+
+"Yes; I think so," replied the physician.
+
+And the son knew that answer was his father's sentence of death. Not one
+of the family could be spared from this death bed to go and fetch
+Violet. So Mr. Fabian went down stairs to the library and wrote a hasty
+note:
+
+    DEAR VIOLET: You offered to come and help to nurse the
+    father, who is sicker than we thought, but with no contagious
+    fever. Come now, dear, and bring baby and nurse, for you may have
+    to stay several days.
+
+    FABIAN.
+
+He inclosed this letter in an envelope, sealed and directed it, and took
+it down to the stable, where he found his own groom Charles in the
+coachman's room.
+
+"Put the horses to the carriage again, and return to Violet Banks to
+bring your mistress here. Give her this note. It will explain all," said
+Mr. Fabian, handing the note to the servant.
+
+He found the same group around the death bed. Clarence and the doctor
+standing on the left side, Cora kneeling by the right side, still
+holding the hand of the dying man, whose fingers were closed upon hers
+and whose face was turned toward hers, but with "no speculation" in it.
+Two hours passed away without any change. The sound of wheels without
+could be heard through the profound stillness of the death chamber. Mr.
+Fabian again left the room to receive his wife.
+
+He met Violet in the hall, just as old John had admitted her. She was
+closely followed by the nurse and the child.
+
+"How is father?" she inquired.
+
+"He is very ill, my dear, but resting quietly just at present. Here is
+Martha; she will take you to your room and make you and the baby
+comfortable. Then, as soon as you can, come to the father's chamber; you
+know where to find it," said Mr. Fabian, who feared to shock his
+sensitive wife by telling her that he was sinking fast, and thought that
+it would be safer to let her come into the room and join the group
+around the bed, and gradually learn the sad truth by her own
+observation.
+
+"Yes; I can find my way very well," answered Violet, as she handed her
+bag, shawl, and umbrella to Martha, and followed the housekeeper up
+stairs, with the nurse and baby.
+
+Mr. Fabian returned to the chamber of the dying man, around whose bed
+the group remained as he had left it, and where in a very few minutes he
+was joined by Violet. She entered the room very softly, so that her
+approach was not heard until she reached the bedside. Then she took and
+silently pressed the hands that were silently held out by Cora, and
+finally she knelt down beside her.
+
+More hours passed; no one left the sick room, for no one knew how soon
+the end might come. Old John thoughtfully brought in a waiter of
+refreshments and set it down on a side table for any one who might
+require it.
+
+Day declined. Through the front windows of the death room the western
+sky could be seen, dark, lowering, and stormy. A long range of heavy
+clouds lay massed above the horizon, obscuring the light of the sinking
+sun, but leaving a narrow line of clear sky just along the top of the
+western ridge.
+
+Presently a singularly beautiful effect was produced. The sun, sinking
+below the dark cloud into the clear gold line of sky, sent forth a blaze
+of light from the mountain heights, across the river, and into the
+chamber of death! Was it this sudden illumination that kindled the fire
+of life in the dying man into a last expiring flame, or was it indeed
+the presence of a spiritual visitant, visible only to the vanishing
+spirit? Who can tell?
+
+Suddenly old Aaron Rockharrt opened his eyes--those great, strong black
+eyes that had ever been a terror to the evil doer--and the well doer
+also--and stared before him, held up his hands and exclaimed:
+
+"Deborah! Deborah!"
+
+And then he dropped his arms by his side, and with a long, deep-drawn
+sigh fell asleep. The name of his old wife was the last word upon his
+dying lips.
+
+No one but the doctor knew what had happened. He bent over the lifeless
+shell, gazed on the face, felt the pulse, felt the heart, and then stood
+up and said:
+
+"All is over, my dear friends. His passage has been quite painless. I
+never saw an easier death."
+
+And he drew up the sheet over the face of the dead.
+
+Although all day they had hourly expected this end, yet now they could
+not quite believe that it had indeed come.
+
+The huge, strong man, the rugged Iron King--dead? He who, if not as
+indestructible as he seemed, was at least constituted of that stern
+stuff of which centenarians are made, and whom all expected should live
+far up into the eighties or nineties--dead? The father who had lived
+over them like some mighty governing and protecting power all their
+lives, necessary, inevitable, inseparable from their lives--dead?
+
+"Come, my dear," said Mr. Clarence, gently raising Corona and leading
+her away. "You have this to console you: he died reconciled to you,
+holding your hand in his to the last."
+
+"Ah, dear Uncle Clarence, you have much more to console you, for you
+never failed even once in your duty to him, and never gave him one
+moment of uneasiness in all your life," replied Corona, as she left him
+in front of her old room.
+
+She entered and shut the door and gave way to the natural grief that
+overwhelmed her for a time.
+
+When she was sufficiently composed she sat down and wrote to her
+brother, informing him of what had occurred, and telling him that she
+still held her purpose of going out to him with the Nevilles.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXII.
+
+"SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI."
+
+
+If old Aaron Rockharrt, the Iron King, had never been generally loved,
+he was certainly very highly respected by the whole community. The news
+of his sudden death fell like a shock upon the public. Preparations for
+the obsequies were on the grandest scale.
+
+They occupied two days. On the first day there were funeral services at
+Rockhold, performed by the Rev. Luke Melville, pastor of the North End
+Mission Church, and attended by all the neighboring families, as well as
+by all the operatives of the works. After these were over, the whole
+assembly, many in carriages and many more on foot, followed the hearse
+that carried the remains to the North End railway depot, where the
+coffin was placed in a special car prepared for its reception, and,
+attended by the whole family, it was conveyed to the State capital and
+deposited in the long drawing room of the Rockharrt mansion, where it
+remained until the next day. On the second day funeral services were
+held at the town house by the bishop of the diocese, assisted by the
+rector of the church of the Lord's Peace, and attended by a host of the
+city friends of the family.
+
+After these services the long funeral procession moved from the house to
+the cemetery of the Lord's Peace, where the body was laid in the
+Rockharrt vault beside that of his old wife.
+
+On the return of the family to the house they assembled in the library
+to hear the reading of the will of Aaron Rockharrt, which had been
+brought in by his solicitor, Mr. Benjamin Norris.
+
+There were present, seated around the table, Fabian, Violet, and
+Clarence Rockharrt, Cora Rothsay, the doctor and the lawyer. Standing
+behind these were gathered the servants of the family.
+
+Mr. Norris blew his nose, cleared his throat, put on his spectacles,
+opened the will and proceeded to read it.
+
+The testament may be briefly summed up as follows:
+
+First there were handsome legacies left to each of the old servants. One
+full half of the testator's vast estate was left to his elder son,
+Fabian; one quarter to his younger son, Clarence; and one quarter to be
+divided equally between his grandson, Sylvan Haught, and his
+granddaughter, Corona Rothsay.
+
+Fabian was appointed sole executor.
+
+The lawyer folded up the document and handed it to Fabian Rockharrt.
+
+"Clarence, old boy, I hardly think this is altogether fair to you," said
+Fabian, good naturedly, and ready to deceive him into the delusion that
+he had not schemed for this unequal division of the enormous wealth.
+
+"It is all right, Fabian. Altogether right. You are the eldest son, and
+now the head of the firm, and you have ten times over the business
+brains that I have. I am perfectly satisfied, and even if I were not, I
+would not dream of criticising my father's will," replied Clarence, with
+perfect good humor and sincerity.
+
+The legacies were promptly paid by Fabian Rockharrt. Mr. Clarence
+decided to remain as his brother's junior partner in the firm that was
+henceforth to be known as "Aaron Rockharrt's Sons," and to leave all his
+share of the money invested in the works.
+
+When Corona was asked when and how she would receive her own, she also
+declared that she would leave it for the present where it was invested
+in the works, and the firm might pay her legal interest for its use, or
+make her a small silent partner in the business. Sylvan had yet to be
+consulted in regard to the disposal of his capital.
+
+The month of October was in its third week. It was high time for Corona
+to go to Washington and make the acquaintance of the Nevilles, if she
+wished to go to travel west under their protection. She had several
+times spoken of this purpose in the presence of Violet, so as to
+accustom that emotional young woman to the idea of their separation. But
+Violet, absorbed in her grief for the dead, paid but little attention to
+Corona's casual remarks.
+
+At the end of a few days Fabian Rockharrt began to talk about going back
+to Violet Banks, and invited Corona to accompany his wife and himself to
+their, pleasant country home.
+
+It was then that Corona spoke decisively. She thanked him for his
+invitation and reminded him of her unalterable resolution to go out to
+Fort Farthermost to join her brother.
+
+When Fabian Rockharrt tried to combat her determination, she informed
+him that she had during the funeral week received a joint letter from
+Captain and Mrs. Neville, inviting her to join their party to the
+frontier. This letter had been written at the suggestion of the colonel
+of Captain Neville's regiment, and had not been mentioned or even
+answered until after the funeral. She said that she had accepted this
+kind invitation, and had forwarded all her baggage, which had been so
+long stored at North End, to Washington to wait her arrival in that
+city.
+
+"Very well, then," said Fabian. "If you are set upon this expedition, I
+cannot hinder you, and shall not try to do so. But I tell you what I
+will do. I will take Violet to Washington with you, and get rooms at
+some pleasant house before the rush of winter visitors. We shall not be
+able to go into general society, but there is a great plenty of
+sightseeing in the national capital with which to divert the mind of my
+poor little girl. Her old guardians, the Pendletimes, are there also,
+and it will comfort her to see them. With them she will be able to let
+you depart without breaking her poor little heart."
+
+"Oh, Uncle Fabian, I am so glad you have thought of this! It will be so
+good for Violet. She has had a sad time since her home-coming. She needs
+a change," said Corona, eagerly.
+
+"I think she will be very much pleased with the plan. Now, Cora, when do
+you wish to go?"
+
+"As soon as possible; but since you are so kind as to accompany me, my
+wish must wait on yours, Uncle Fabian."
+
+"Let us go and consult Violet," said Fabian Rockharrt, rising and
+leading the way to the nursery, which had been hastily fitted up for the
+accommodation of the Rockharrt baby and her nurse, and where he felt
+sure of finding the young mother, too.
+
+Violet, when told of the scheme to go immediately to Washington and see
+her old friends, was more than "pleased;" she was delighted. To show her
+baby to her more than mother, as she often called Mrs. Pendletime, would
+fill her soul with pride and joy.
+
+Very early the next morning Mr. Fabian and his party left the city by
+the express train en route for the national capital, leaving Mr.
+Clarence to go to North End and take charge of the works. They reached
+Baltimore at 11 p.m., and remained over night. The next day they went
+on to Washington, where they arrived about noon, and went directly to
+the hotel where Captain and Mrs. Neville were staying.
+
+Violet, very much fatigued, lay down to rest and to get her baby to
+sleep at her bosom. Mr. Fabian, as we must continue from habit to call
+him, though his rightful style was now Mr. Rockharrt, went down to the
+reading room to send his own and his wife's cards to Chief Justice and
+Mrs. Pendletime, and to collect Washington gossip.
+
+Corona changed her traveling dress, went down into the ladies' parlor,
+and sent her card to the rooms of the Nevilles. And presently there
+entered to her a very handsome middle-aged pair.
+
+The captain was a fine, tall, broad-shouldered, soldierly-looking man,
+with a bald head and a gray mustache. He was clothed in a citizen's
+morning suit. The captain's wife was also rather tall, slender, dark
+complexioned, with a thin face, black eyes, and black hair very slightly
+touched with gray, which she wore in ringlets over her ears, and in a
+braid behind her neck. Her dress was a plain, dark cashmere, with white
+cuffs and collar.
+
+"It is very kind of you to take charge of me," said Corona to Mrs.
+Neville, as the three seated themselves on a group of chairs near
+together.
+
+"My dear, I am very glad to have your company, as well on the long and
+dreary journey over the plains as at that distant frontier fort. You
+will find life at the fort with your brother a severe test to your
+affection for him," said Mrs. Neville, with her rather doubtful smile.
+
+"You have some experience of life at Fort Farthermost?" remarked Corona
+pleasantly.
+
+"No; not at that particular fort. We have never been quite so far as
+that yet. It is a new fort--an outpost really on the extreme
+southwestern frontier, as I understand. We shall have to cross what used
+to be called the Great American Desert to reach it. We go first to
+Leavenworth, and, of course, the journey to Leavenworth is easy enough.
+But from Leavenworth the long, tedious traveling by army wagons over the
+plains and through the wilderness to the southwestern forts will try
+your endurance, my dear."
+
+"Come, come!" said the captain, heartily; "it is not all unmitigated
+dreadfulness. To be sure we have no railroads through the wilderness, no
+fine city hotels to stay at; but, then, there are some few forts along
+the line of travel, where we can stop a day or two to rest, and have
+good sport. And when we have no fort at the end of a day's journey, it
+is not very awful to bivouac under the shelter of some friendly rock or
+in the thicket of some forest. The wagons by day make good couches by
+night; and as for the bill of fare, a haunch of venison from a deer shot
+by some soldier on the road, and cooked on a fire in the open air, has a
+very particularly fine flavor. All civilized condiments we carry with
+us. As for amusements, though we have no theaters or concerts, yet there
+is always sure to be some fellow along who can sing a good song, and
+some other fellow who can tell a good story. I rather think you will
+enjoy the trip as a novelty, Mrs. Rothsay. I observe that most young
+people do."
+
+"I really think I shall enjoy it," assented Corona.
+
+"I hope that you will be able to endure it, my dear," added Mrs.
+Neville.
+
+"You see the journey is no novelty to my wife, Mrs. Rothsay. She has
+spent all her married life on the frontier. Thirty years ago, my dear
+lady, I received my first commission as second lieutenant in the Third
+Infantry, and was ordered to Okononak, Oregon. I married my sweetheart
+here, and took her with me, and she has been with me ever since; for we
+both agreed that anything was better than separation. We have raised
+children, and they have married and left us, and we have never been
+parted for a week. We have lived on the frontier, and know every fort
+from the confines of Canada to those of Mexico. We have lived among
+soldiers, savages, pioneers, scouts, border ruffians, wild beasts, and
+venomous reptiles all the days of our married life. What do you think of
+us?"
+
+"I think it is unjust that some military officers have to vegetate all
+their days in those wilds of the West, while others live for all that
+life is worth in the Eastern centers of civilization."
+
+"Bless you, my dear, we don't vegetate. If nothing else should rouse our
+souls the Indians would, and make it lively for us, too! It is not an
+unpleasant life, upon the whole, Mrs. Rothsay; but you see we are
+growing old, and my wife is tired of it, that is all."
+
+"How soon shall we leave for the West?" inquired Corona.
+
+"How soon can you be ready, my dear young lady?"
+
+"I am quite ready now."
+
+"Then on Monday, I think. What do you say, Mrs. Neville?" inquired the
+captain.
+
+"Monday will do," replied the wife.
+
+"Now here are some people coming in to interrupt us," said the captain
+in a vexed tone.
+
+Corona looked up and said:
+
+"They are Chief Justice and Mrs. Pendletime, come to call on their late
+ward, Mrs. Fabian Rockharrt. You know them?"
+
+"Not a bit of it. So if you please, my dear, we will retire at once and
+leave you to receive them, especially as we are both engaged to dine at
+the arsenal this afternoon," said the captain; and he arose, and with
+his wife withdrew from the parlor.
+
+Cora went forward to receive the new visitors. They both greeted her
+very warmly, and then expressed the deepest sympathy with her in her
+sorrow at the loss of her grandfather, and made many inquiries for the
+particulars of his illness.
+
+When Corona had answered all their questions, and they had again
+expressed their sympathy, she inquired:
+
+"Have you sent for Violet? Does she know you are here? If not, I will go
+and call her."
+
+"Oh, yes; the servant took up our card. And here she comes! And the baby
+in her arms, by all that is beautiful!" said Mrs. Pendletime, as she
+arose to meet her favorite, and took the infant from the fond mother and
+covered both with caresses.
+
+"To think of my child coming to a hotel instead of directly to my
+house!" said the elder lady, reproachfully.
+
+"But I wished to stay a day or two with Corona before she leaves for the
+West. And after I meant to go to you and stay as long as you would let
+me," Violet replied.
+
+"Mrs. Rothsay going West!" exclaimed the old lady.
+
+"Yes; she is," said Violet, emphatically and impatiently. And then there
+ensued more explanations, and exclamations, and remonstrances.
+
+And finally Mrs. Pendletime inquired:
+
+"And when do you leave on this fearful expedition, my dear?"
+
+"On Monday next I go, with Captain and Mrs. Neville," replied Corona.
+
+"Well, I am truly sorry for it; but, of course, I cannot help it. On
+Monday, therefore, after your friend has taken leave of you, you will
+remove to my house, Violet?"
+
+"Oh, yes; the thought of going to you is the only comfort I have in
+parting from Corona," replied Mrs. Fabian Rockharrt.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIII.
+
+CORONA'S DEPARTURE.
+
+
+On the Sunday following her arrival in Washington, the last day of her
+sojourn in the capital, the day before her departure for the frontier,
+Corona Rothsay rose early in the morning, and soon as she was dressed
+went down to the ladies' parlor. Neither her uncle nor his young wife
+had yet left their rooms. In fact, so early was it that none of the
+ladies staying in the house had yet come down to the parlor. The place
+was vacant.
+
+Corona went up the long room and sat down by one of the front windows,
+to look down on the passing life of the avenue below.
+
+While she sat looking out of the window she heard a movement at the
+lower end of the room. Some one entered and sat down to wait. And some
+one else went out again. Corona never turned round to see who was there.
+She continued to look through the window. She was not interested in the
+comers and goers into and out of the hotel.
+
+Presently some one came in again and said:
+
+"Mrs. Rothsay is not in her room, sir."
+
+"Then I will wait here until she can be found," replied the new comer in
+a familiar voice.
+
+But then Corona started up and rushed down the length of the room,
+crying eagerly:
+
+"Uncle Clarence! Oh, Uncle Clarence! Is this you? Is this indeed you? I
+am so glad to see you once more before I go! I had thought never to see
+you again! Or, at least, not for many years! And here you are!"
+
+He caught the hands she held out as she reached him, drew her to his
+bosom and kissed her as he answered:
+
+"Yes, my dear, it is I, your old bachelor uncle, who was not satisfied
+with the leave taking on last Thursday, but longed to see you again
+before your departure."
+
+"You dear Uncle Clarence!"
+
+"So yesterday afternoon I telegraphed to Fabian to ask him when you were
+to start for the West. He telegraphed back that you expected to leave
+Washington on Monday morning. I got this answer about five o'clock in
+the afternoon. And, as it was Saturday night and I had a clear day, the
+blessed Sabbath, before me, I only waited to close the works at six
+o'clock, as usual, and then I hurried away, packed a carpet bag and
+caught, by half a minute, the six-thirty express for Baltimore and
+Washington, and came straight through! It was a twelve hours' journey,
+my dear, without stopping except to change cars, which connected
+promptly, and so you see I have lost no time! I have just arrived, and
+did not have to wait five minutes even to see you, for you were here to
+receive me! And now that I am here, my dear, I shall stay to see you off
+with the Nevilles. You go to-morrow, as I understand? There has been no
+change in the programme?"
+
+"We go to-morrow, Uncle Clarence," replied Corona, in a grave, sorrowful
+tone, for she was sympathizing with him.
+
+"By what train, my child?"
+
+"The eight-thirty express, Baltimore and Ohio Railroad."
+
+"Then I need not part with you here in Washington. Our routes are the
+same for some hundred miles. I shall travel with you as far as the North
+End Junction, and take leave of you there. That will be seeing the very
+last of you, up to the very last minute."
+
+Just at this moment Mr. Fabian entered the parlor, and recognizing his
+younger brother and junior partner, approached him with a shout:
+
+"Clarence! by all that's magical! Pray, did you rise from the earth, or
+fall from the skies, that I find you here?"
+
+"How do you do, Fabian? I came in the most commonplace way you can
+imagine--by the night express train--and have only just now arrived,"
+replied Mr. Clarence.
+
+"And how goes on the works?" inquired Fabian Rockharrt.
+
+"Admirably."
+
+"Glad to hear it. And what brought you here, if it is a civil question?"
+
+"It isn't a civil question, but I'll answer it all the same. I came to
+see Cora once more, to spend the last Sabbath with her and to accompany
+her as far on the journey to-morrow as our way runs together, which will
+be as far as the North End Junction."
+
+"And you will not reach North End before Monday night! A whole day lost
+at the works, Clarence! Ah! it is well you have me to deal with instead
+of the father--Heaven rest his soul!"
+
+"See here, Fabian," said Mr. Clarence, "for a very little more I will go
+with Cora all the way to Fort Farthermost, as her natural protector and
+helper in her missionary work. What, indeed, have I to keep me here in
+the East since the father left us? Nothing whatever. You have your wife
+and child; I have no one. Cora is nearer to me than any other being."
+
+"Come! Come down to breakfast. You have been traveling all night
+without food, I feel sure; and fasting and vigils never were means of
+grace to a Rockharrt. Come!" said Mr. Fabian, with a laugh.
+
+"I must get a room and go to it first. Look at me!" said Clarence.
+
+"You do look like the ash man or blacksmith, certainly. Well, come
+along; we'll go to the office and get a room, and then you can get some
+of that dust off you. It won't take ten minutes. After that we will go
+to breakfast."
+
+The brothers left the parlor together.
+
+The next moment Violet entered it, and bade good morning to Corona, who
+in turn told her of the new arrival.
+
+"Clarence! Oh, I am so glad! What an addition he will be to our party,
+Cora, especially after you have left us, my dear, when we shall miss you
+so sadly," said Violet.
+
+Cora made no reply. She disliked to tell Violet that she, Violet, would
+lose the society of Clarence at the same time that she would lose that
+of herself, as her uncle was to leave Washington by the same train.
+
+While they were still talking the two brothers re-entered the parlor.
+
+When Fabian demanded whether they were ready to go down to breakfast,
+and received a satisfactory answer, he drew the arm of his wife within
+his own, and led the way down stairs. Clarence and Corona followed. When
+they entered the breakfast saloon, the polite waiter came forward and
+ushered them to a table at which Captain and Mrs. Neville were already
+seated. Morning greetings were exchanged, and Mr. Clarence was
+introduced and welcomed.
+
+After breakfast all the party went to church.
+
+Then Clarence and Corona spent the afternoon together at one end of the
+long parlor, which was so long and had so many recesses that half a
+dozen separate groups might have isolated themselves there, each without
+fear of their conversation being overheard by the others.
+
+All the members of our party sat up late that evening to eke out the
+time they might spend together before parting. It was after midnight
+when they retired.
+
+The travelers met at an early breakfast the next morning. Their baggage
+had been sent on and checked in advance. They had nothing to do but make
+the most of the few remaining minutes.
+
+When the meal was over they all hastily left the table and went to their
+rooms to put on their traveling wraps.
+
+Fabian and Violet were to accompany the travelers to the railway depot
+to see them off, so that there was to be no leave taking at the hotel
+except of the baby.
+
+Corona went into the nurse's room, took the mite in her arms, held it to
+her bosom, caressed and kissed it tenderly, but dropped no tear on its
+sweet, fair face or soft white robe.
+
+The baby received all this love with delight, leaping and dancing in
+Corona's arms, then gazing at her with intense eyes, and crowing and
+prattling in inarticulate and unintelligible language, of some happy,
+incommunicable news, some joyful message it would deliver if it could.
+
+"Come, Cora. We are waiting for you, my dear," sounded the voice of Mr.
+Fabian in the hall outside.
+
+Corona kissed the baby for the last time, blessed it for the vague sweet
+hope it had infused into her heart, and then laid it in its nurse's arms
+and left the room.
+
+"We shall barely catch the train, if we catch it at all. And the captain
+is as nearly in a 'stew' as an officer and a gentleman permits himself
+to get. We have been looking for you everywhere," said Mr. Fabian.
+
+"I was in the nurse's room, bidding good-by to the baby," replied Cora.
+
+"Oh!"
+
+No more was said. Baby was excuse for any amount of delay, even though
+it had caused the missing of their train and the driving of the captain
+into a war dance.
+
+They hurried down stairs and entered the carriages that were waiting to
+take them to the depot--Fabian, Violet, Clarence and Corona in one;
+Captain and Mrs. Neville, and Mrs. Neville's maid, in the other. And so
+they drove to the depot, and arrived just in time to take their tickets
+and rush to their seats on the train, with no further leave taking than
+a kiss all around, and a general, heartfelt "God bless you!"
+
+The train was speeding away, leaving Washington City behind, when our
+party first began to realize that they were really "off" and to take in
+their surroundings.
+
+Captain and Mrs. Neville sat together about midway in the car. Clarence
+and Corona sat immediately behind them. On the opposite side sat Mrs.
+Neville's colored maid, Manda, and in the rear corner, on the same side,
+the captain's orderly--a new recruit. About half the remaining seats in
+the car were occupied by other travelers.
+
+At Harper's Ferry, amid the most beautiful and sublime mountain scenery
+of Virginia, the train stopped twenty minutes for dinner, which, in
+those ante-bellum days, was well served from the hotel at the depot.
+After dinner, the train started off again at express speed, stopping but
+at few stations, until near night, when it reached North End Junction,
+where Mr. Clarence was to get off.
+
+"Cora, my darling, we must part here," said Mr. Clarence, gathering up
+his effects, as the train slackened speed.
+
+"Oh, Uncle Clarence! Dear Uncle Clarence! God bless you! God bless you!"
+sobbed Corona.
+
+"Keep up your heart, dear one. You may see me sooner than you dream of.
+The missionary mania is sometimes contagious. You have it in its most
+pronounced form. And I have been sitting by you for eight hours,"
+replied Mr. Clarence, forgetting his prudent resolution to say nothing
+to Corona of an incipient plan in his mind.
+
+"What do you mean, dear Uncle Clarence?" she anxiously inquired.
+
+"I hardly know myself, Corona. But ponder my words in your heart, dear
+one. They may mean something. Here we are! Good-by! Good-by! God bless
+you!" exclaimed Mr. Clarence.
+
+"Good-by! God bless you!" cried Corona, and they parted--Clarence
+jumping off the train just as it started again, at the imminent risk of
+his life, yet with lucky immunity from harm.
+
+Corona, looking through the side window, saw him standing safely on the
+platform waiting a North End train to come up--saw him only for an
+instant as her train flashed onward, and "pondered his words in her
+heart," and wondered what they meant.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+ON THE FRONTIER.
+
+
+Traveling in the ante-bellum days, even by steamboats and railway
+trains, was not the rapid transit of the present time. It took one day
+for our travelers to reach Wheeling. There they embarked on a river
+steamer for St. Louis. On Monday morning they took a steamboat for
+Leavenworth, where they arrived early in the evening.
+
+This was the first and best part of their long journey. The second part
+must of necessity be very different. Here their railway and steamboat
+travel ceased, and the remainder of their course to the far southwestern
+frontier must be by military wagons through an almost untrodden
+wilderness.
+
+I know that since the days of which I write this section of the country
+has been wonderfully developed, and the wilderness has been made to
+"bloom and blossom as the rose," but in those days it was still laid
+down on the maps as "The Great American Desert." And Fort Leavenworth
+appeared to us as an extreme outpost of civilization in the West, and a
+stopping place and a point of new departure for troops en route for the
+southwestern frontier forts.
+
+Captain Neville and his party landed at Leavenworth on the afternoon of
+a fine November day. The captain led the way to the colonel's quarters.
+A sentinel was walking up and down the front. He saluted the captain,
+who passed into the quarters, where an orderly received the party,
+showed them into a parlor, gave them seats, and then took the captain's
+card to the colonel.
+
+In a few moments Col. ---- entered the parlor, looked around, recognized
+Captain Neville, and greeted him with:
+
+"Ah, Neville! delighted to see you! Mrs. Neville, of course! I remember
+you well, madam! And this young lady your daughter, I presume?" he
+added, turning from the elders to shake hands with Corona.
+
+"No; not our daughter, I wish she were; but our young friend, Mrs.
+Rothsay, who is going with us to Farthermost," Captain Neville
+explained.
+
+"To join her husband! One of the new set of officers turned out by the
+Academy! Happy man!" exclaimed the colonel, warmly shaking Corona's
+hand.
+
+"No, sir; Mrs. Rothsay is a widow. She goes out to join her only
+brother, Lieutenant Haught!" the captain again explained, in a low and
+faintly reproachful tone.
+
+"Oh! ah! I beg pardon, I am sure. The mistake was absurd," said the
+colonel, with a penitent air.
+
+"When did you leave Washington?"
+
+"A week ago to-day; but the boats were slow."
+
+"Pleasant journey, I hope?"
+
+"Oh, yes, so far."
+
+At this moment the colonel's wife came into the room. She was a tall,
+gray-haired woman with a fair complexion and blue eyes, and dressed in
+black silk and a lace cap. She shook hands with Captain and Mrs.
+Neville, who were old friends, and who then presented Mrs. Rothsay, whom
+the hostess received with much cordiality.
+
+Meanwhile the colonel and the captain strolled out upon the piazza, to
+smoke each a cigar. The former inquired more particularly into the
+history of the beautiful, pale woman who had come out under the
+protection of the captain and his wife.
+
+Captain Neville told him all he knew of Mrs. Rothsay's story--namely,
+that she was the granddaughter of the famous Iron King, Aaron Rockharrt,
+lately deceased, and that she was the widow of the late Regulas Rothsay,
+who so mysteriously disappeared on the evening of his wedding before the
+day of his expected inauguration as governor of his native State, and
+who was afterward discovered to have been murdered by the Comanche
+Indians.
+
+In the evening, when a number of officers dropped into the drawing room
+of the colonel's quarters, our party were quite able to receive them.
+
+One unexpected thing happened. Among the callers was a certain Major
+----, a childless widower of middle age, short, thick-set, black-bearded
+and red-faced, with a bluff presence and a bluff voice, who fell--yes,
+tumbled--heels over head in love with Corona at first sight.
+
+This catastrophe was so patent to all beholders as to excite equal
+wonder and mirthfulness.
+
+Only Corona of all the company remained ignorant of the conquest she had
+made; ignorant, that is, until the visitors had all left the quarters,
+when her hostess said to her in a bantering tone:
+
+"You have subdued our major, my dear, utterly subdued him. This is the
+first case of love at first sight that ever came under my notice, but it
+is an unmistakable one. And, oh, I should say a malignant, if not a
+fatal, type of the disorder."
+
+So closed the day of our travelers' arrival at Fort Leavenworth.
+
+It was Saturday afternoon, on the sixth day of the visitors' stay at the
+fort, and the ladies were on the parade ground watching the drill, when
+the word came that the steamer was coming up the river with troops on
+board.
+
+"Our raw recruits at last," said Captain Neville, who was standing with
+the ladies.
+
+"And that means, I suppose, that we are to start for Farthermost at
+once," said Mrs. Neville.
+
+"Not on the instant," laughed the captain.
+
+"This is Saturday afternoon. To-morrow is Sunday. We shall leave on
+Monday morning."
+
+"Rain or shine?"
+
+"Fair or foul, of course," said the captain.
+
+It was really the steamer with the new recruits on board. Half an hour
+later they landed and marched into the fort, under the command of the
+recruiting sergeant, and they were received with cheers.
+
+That evening Captain Neville announced his intention to set out for
+Farthermost on Monday morning. Of course this was expected. And equally,
+of course, not one word was said to induce him to defer his departure
+for one day. Military duty must take precedence of mere politeness.
+
+The next day being the Sabbath, the ladies attended the morning service
+in the chapel of the fort. The irrepressible Major ---- was present, and
+after the benediction, attached himself to Captain Neville's party, and
+walked home with them to the colonel's quarters, but not next to Cora,
+who walked with Mrs. Neville.
+
+As the major paused at the door, Mrs. ---- had no choice but to invite
+him to come in and stay to dinner, adding that this was the last day of
+the Nevilles' and Mrs. Rothsay's sojourn at the fort.
+
+The major thanked the lady, and followed her into the drawing room,
+where he sat talking to the colonel, while the ladies went to their
+rooms to lay off their bonnets and cloaks. They came down only when
+called by the bell to the early Sunday dinner.
+
+As this was the last day of the guests' stay at Fort Leavenworth, many
+of the officers dropped in to say good by; so that the party sat up
+rather later than usual, and it was near midnight when they retired to
+rest.
+
+Corona did not go to bed at once. She sat from twelve to one writing a
+letter to her Uncle Clarence, not knowing how the next was to be mailed
+to him.
+
+The next morning was so clear, bright, and beautiful that every one
+said that it must be the perfection of Indian summer.
+
+On the road outside the walls five strong army wagons, to which stout
+mules were harnessed, stood in a line. These were to serve the men as
+carriages by day and couches by night. Besides these, there were two
+carriages of better make and more comfortable fittings for the captain
+and the ladies of his party.
+
+The farewell breakfast at the colonel's quarters partook of the nature
+of an official banquet. It was unnecessarily prolonged.
+
+At length the company left the table.
+
+Mrs. Neville and Mrs. Rothsay went to their rooms to put on hats and
+cloaks. As soon as they were ready they came down to bid good by to Mrs.
+---- and some other ladies who had come to the colonel's quarters to see
+them off.
+
+When these adieus were all said, the colonel gave Mrs. Rothsay his arm
+to lead her to the carriage, which stood in line with the army wagons on
+the road outside the walls.
+
+Captain and Mrs. Neville had gone on before.
+
+"There, the steamer has landed, and here are some people coming up from
+it," said the colonel, pausing at the gate with Corona on his arm, as a
+heavy carriage, drawn by a pair of powerful draught horses, came up from
+the steamboat landing and drew up at the gate.
+
+A tall man, in a long overcoat and a fur cap, jumped down and approached
+Corona.
+
+"Uncle Clarence! Oh, heaven of heavens! Uncle Clarence!" she exclaimed,
+pale and faint with excess of surprise and joy.
+
+"Yes, my dear; I am going with you. See, I have my own carriage and
+horses, brought all the way by steamer from St. Louis. Our own servants,
+brought all the way from North End. Now introduce me to your friend
+here, and later I will tell you all about it," said the new comer, with
+a smile, as he kissed his niece.
+
+"Oh, Colonel ----, this is my dear Uncle Clarence--Mr. Clarence
+Rockharrt, I mean," said Corona, in a rapture of confusion.
+
+"How do you do, sir? I am very glad to see you. Really going over the
+plains with this train?" inquired the colonel, as the two gentlemen
+shook hands.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+THE NEW COMERS.
+
+
+"Yes, colonel," briskly replied Clarence, "I am really going out to the
+frontier! I have not enlisted in the army, nor have I received any
+appointment as post trader or Indian agent from the government, nor
+missionary or schoolmaster from any Christian association. But, all the
+same, I am en route for the wilderness on my own responsibility, by my
+own conveyance, at my own expense, and with this outgoing trail--if
+there be no objection," added Clarence, with a sudden obscure doubt
+arising in his mind that there might exist some military regulation
+against the attachment of any outsider to the trail of army wagons going
+over the plains from fort to fort.
+
+"'Objections!' What objections could there possibly be, my dear sir? I
+fancy there could be nothing worse than a warm welcome for you," replied
+the colonel.
+
+At that moment Captain Neville, who had put his wife in their carryall,
+came up to see what had delayed his guest.
+
+"My dear Mrs. Rothsay, we are ready to start," he said. Then seeing Mr.
+Clarence, whom he had met in Washington and liked very much, he seized
+his hand and exclaimed:
+
+"Why, Rockharrt, my dear fellow! You here! This is a surprise, indeed! I
+am very glad to see you! How are you? When did you arrive?" and he shook
+the hand of the new comer as if he would have shaken it off.
+
+"I am very well, thank you, captain, and have just landed from the boat.
+I hope you and your wife are quite well."
+
+"Robust, sir! Robust! So glad to see you! But so sorry you did not
+arrive a few days sooner, so that we might have seen more of you. You
+have come, I suppose, all this distance to bid a last, supplementary
+farewell to your dear favorite niece?"
+
+"I have come to go with her to the frontier, if I may have the privilege
+of traveling with your trail of wagons."
+
+"Why, assuredly. We are always glad of good company on the way,"
+heartily responded the captain.
+
+"Oh, beg pardon, and thank you very much; but I did not intend to 'beat'
+my way. Look there!" exclaimed Clarence, with a brighter smile, as he
+pointed to the commodious carriage, drawn by a pair of fine draught
+horses, that stood waiting for him, and to the covered wagon, drawn by a
+pair of stout mules, that was coming up behind.
+
+"Oh! Ah! Yes, I see! You are traveling with your retinue. But is not
+this a very sudden move on your part?" demanded the captain.
+
+"So sudden in its impulse that it might be mistaken for the flight of a
+criminal, had it not been so deliberate in its execution. The fact is,
+sir, I am very much attached to my widowed niece, and not being able to
+dissuade her from her purpose of going out into the Indian country, and
+being her natural protector and an unincumbered bachelor, I decided to
+follow her. And now I feel very happy to have overtaken her in the nick
+of time."
+
+"I see! I see!" said the captain with a laugh.
+
+While this talk was still going on, Corona turned to take a better look
+at the great, strong carriage in which her uncle had driven up from the
+steamboat landing. There, to her surprise and delight, she saw young
+Mark, from Rockhold, seated on the box. He was staring at her, trying to
+catch her eye, and when he did so he grinned and bobbed, and bobbed and
+grinned, half a dozen times, in as many half seconds.
+
+"Why, Mark! I am so surprised!" said Corona, as she went toward him. "I
+am so glad to see you!"
+
+"Yes'm. Thanky'm. So is I. Yes'm, an'dar's mammy an' daddy an' Sister
+Phebe 'hind dar in de wagon," jerking his head toward the rear.
+
+Corona looked, and her heart leaped with joy to see the dear, familiar
+faces of the colored servants who had been about her from her childhood.
+For there on the front seat of the wagon sat old John, from Rockhold,
+with the reins in his hands, drawing up the team of mules, while on one
+side of him sat his middle-aged wife, Martha, the housekeeper, and on
+the other his young daughter, Phebe, once lady's maid to Corona Rothsay.
+
+Corona uttered a little cry of joy as she hastened toward the wagon. The
+three colored people saw her at once, and, with the unconventionally of
+their old servitude, shouted out in chorus:
+
+"How do, Miss C'rona?"
+
+"Sarvint, Miss C'rona!"
+
+"Didn't 'spect to see we dem come trapesin' arter yer 'way out yere,
+did yer now?"
+
+And they also grinned and bobbed, and bobbed and grinned, between every
+word, as they tumbled off their seats and ran to meet her.
+
+Mr. Clarence hoisted the two women to their seats, one on each side of
+the driver, and then turned to Corona.
+
+"Come, my dear. Let me put you into our carriage," he said, as he drew
+her arm within his own and led her on.
+
+"Oh! I have not taken leave of Colonel ---- yet.
+
+"Where is he?" she inquired, looking around.
+
+"Here I am, my dear Mrs. Rothsay. Waiting at the carriage door to put
+you in your seat and to wish you a pleasant journey. And certainly, if
+this initial day is any index, you will have a pleasant one, for I never
+saw finer weather at this season of the year," said the colonel,
+cheerily, as he received Corona from her uncle's hand, and, with the
+stately courtesy of the olden time, placed her in her seat.
+
+"I thank you, colonel, for all the kindness I have received at your
+hands and at those of Mrs. ----. I shall never forget it. Good by," said
+Corona, giving him her hand.
+
+He lifted the tips of her fingers to his lips, bowed, and stepped back.
+
+Mr. Clarence entered the carriage and gave the order to the young
+coachman. Carriage and covered wagon then fell into the procession,
+which began to move on. A farewell gun was fired from the fort.
+
+"Uncle Clarence," said Corona, after the party had been on the road some
+hours--"Uncle Clarence, how came you first to think of such a strange
+move as to leave the works and come out here? And when did you first
+make up your mind to do it?"
+
+"I think, Cora, my dear, that the idea came vaguely into my mind, as a
+mere possibility, after my father's death. It occurred to me that there
+was no absolute necessity for my remaining longer at the works. You see,
+Cora, however much I might have wished for a change in my life, I never
+could have vexed my father by even expressing such a wish, while he
+lived. After his death I thought of it vaguely."
+
+"Oh! why didn't you tell me?"
+
+"My mind was not made up; therefore I spoke of the matter to no one. I
+only hinted something to you, when on bidding you good by at North End
+Junction I told you that you might possibly see me before you would
+expect to do so."
+
+"Yes; I remember that well. I thought you only said that to comfort me.
+And you really meant that you might possibly follow me?"
+
+"Yes, my dear; that is just what I meant. I could not speak more plainly
+because I was not sure of my own course. I had to think of Fabian."
+
+"Yes. How, at last, came you to the conclusion of following your poor
+niece?"
+
+"Fabian and myself could not agree upon a certain policy in conducting
+our business. There was no longer the father's controlling influence,
+you see, and Fabian is the head of the firm; and I could not do business
+on his principles," said Mr. Clarence, flushing up to his brow.
+
+"No; I suppose you could not," said Cora, meditatively; and then she was
+sorry that she had said anything that might imply a reproach to the
+good-humored uncle she had left behind.
+
+"Still, I said nothing about a dissolution of partnership until Fabian
+complained that I, or my policy, was a dead weight around his neck,
+dragging him down from the most magnificent flights to mere sordid
+drudgery. Then I proposed that we should dissolve partnership. And he
+said he was sorry. And I believe he was; but also glad, inconsistent as
+that seems. For he was sorry I could not come into his policy, and stay
+in the firm; but since I could not so agree with him, he was relieved
+when I proposed to withdraw from it. We disagreed, my dear Cora, but we
+did not fall out; we parted good friends and brothers with tears in our
+eyes. Poor little Violet cried a good deal. But you know she has such a
+tender heart, poor child!--Look at that herd of deer, Cora, standing on
+the top of that swell of the land to the right, and actually gazing at
+the trail without a motion or a panic. I hope nobody will shoot at
+them!" exclaimed Mr. Clarence, suddenly breaking off in his discourse to
+point to the denizens of the thicket and the prairie, until upon some
+sudden impulse the whole herd turned and bounded away.
+
+So they fared on through that glorious autumn day--over the vast,
+rolling, solitary prairie--now rising to a smooth, gradual elevation
+that revealed the circle of the whole horizon where it met the sky; now
+descending into a wide, shallow hollow, where the rising ground around
+inclosed them as in an amphitheater; but everywhere along the trail, the
+prairie grass, dried and burnished by the autumn's suns and winds,
+burned like gold on the hills and bronze in the hollows, giving a
+singularly beautiful effect in light and shade of mingling metallic
+hues.
+
+At noon the captain ordered a halt, and all the teams were drawn up in a
+line; and all the men got out to feed and water the horses and mules,
+and to prepare their own dinner.
+
+They were now beside a clear, deep, narrow stream, a tributary of the
+Kansas River, running through a picturesque valley, carpeted with long
+grass, and bordered with low, well-wooded hills on either side. The
+burnished gold and bronze of the long dried grass on the river's brim,
+dotted here and there with a late scarlet prairie flower, the brilliant
+crimson and purple of the autumn foliage that clothed the trees, the
+bright blue of the sky and the soft white of the few downy clouds
+floating overhead, and all reflected and duplicated in the river below,
+made a beauty and glory of color that must have delighted the soul of an
+artist, and pleased the eye of even the most careless observer.
+
+Mike O'Reilly, the captain's orderly, was busy spreading a table cloth
+on the grass, at the foot of a hill on the right, and old John, Mr.
+Clarence's man, was emulating Mike by spreading a four-yard square of
+white damask at a short distance behind him.
+
+Our friends had nearly finished their lunch, when something--she never
+could tell what--caused Corona to look behind her. Then she shrieked!
+All looked to see the cause of her sudden fright.
+
+There stood a group of Indians, with blankets around their forms, and
+gleaming tomahawks about their shoulders.
+
+"Pawnees--friendly. Don't be afraid. Give them something to eat," said
+the captain, in a low tone, addressing the first part of his
+conversation to Corona and the last part to Mrs. Neville.
+
+But Corona had never seen an Indian in her life, and could not at once
+get over her panic caused by the sight of those bare, keen-edged axes
+gleaming in the sun.
+
+Captain Neville spoke to them in their native tongue, and they replied.
+The conversation that ensued was quite unintelligible to Clarence and
+Corona, but not to Mrs. Neville, who beckoned to two squaws who stood
+humbly in the rear of the braves. They were both clothed in short,
+rude, blue cotton skirts, with blankets over their shoulders. The elder
+squaw carried a pack on her back; the younger one carried a baby snugly
+in a hood made of the loop of her blanket at the back of her neck.
+
+They both approached the ladies, chattering as they came; the elder one
+threw down her pack on the grass and began to open it, and display a
+number of dressed raccoon skins stretched upon sticks, and by gibbering
+and gesticulations expressed her wish to sell them.
+
+Neither of the ladies wished to buy; but Mrs. Neville give her loaves of
+bread and junks of dried beef from the hampers on the grass, and Corona
+gave her money.
+
+She put the money in a little fur pouch she carried at her belt, and she
+packed the bread and beef in the bundle with the highly flavored raccoon
+skins. She was not fastidious.
+
+While Mrs. Neville and Corona were occupied with the squaw, Captain
+Neville and Mr. Clarence had been feasting the braves, and the
+attendants had been washing dishes, repacking hampers, and reloading
+wagons for a fresh start.
+
+When all was ready the wayfarers took leave of the Indians and
+re-entered their conveyances and resumed their route, leaving the
+savages still feasting on the fragments that remained.
+
+It was now two o'clock in the afternoon, as the long trail of carryalls
+and army wagons passed up from the beautiful valley and out upon the
+vast prairie that still rolled on before them in hills and hollows of
+gold and bronze, blazing under the bright autumnal sun.
+
+Men and women, mules and horses, had all been rested and refreshed by
+their mid-day halt and repast.
+
+The people, however, seemed less inclined to observe and converse than
+in the forenoon.
+
+Even Clarence saw more than one flock of birds sail over their heads,
+and made no sign; saw a herd of deer stand and gaze, and said not a
+word.
+
+At length Clarence took out his cigar and lit it, and as he smoked he
+watched the descending sun until it sank below the horizon and sent up
+the most singular after-glow that Clarence had ever seen--a shower of
+sparks and needle-like flames from the edge of the prairie immediately
+under the horizon.
+
+"Looks like de worl' was ketchin on fire ober dere, Marse Clarence,"
+said young Mark, speaking for the first time since they had resumed
+their march.
+
+"It is only the light reflected by the prairie, my boy," kindly replied
+Mr. Clarence. And then he smoked on in silence, while the after-glow
+died out, the twilight faded, and one by one the stars came out. Corona
+seemed to be slumbering in her seat. Young Mark crooned low, as if to
+himself, a weird, old camp meeting hymn. It was so dark that he could
+not have seen to guide his horses, had not the captain's carryall been
+immediately in front of his own, and the long trail of wagons in front
+of the captain's, with lantern carried by the advance guard to show the
+way.
+
+"What's the matter?" suddenly called out Mr. Clarence, who was aroused
+from his reverie by the halt of the whole procession.
+
+"We 'pears to got sumwhurze," replied Mark, strongly pulling in his
+horses, which had nearly run into the back of the captain's stationary
+carryall in front.
+
+"We are at Burley's," called out Captain Neville from his seat.
+
+While he spoke Mike O'Reilly brought up a lantern to show their way to
+the house.
+
+Clarence alighted and handed down his niece, took her arm, and followed
+Captain and Mrs. Neville past the wagons and mules and groups of men
+through a door that admitted them into a long, low-ceiled room, lighted
+by tallow candles in tin sconces along the log walls, and warmed by a
+large cooking stove in the middle of the floor. Rude, unpainted wooden
+chairs, benches and tables were the only furniture, if we except the
+rough shelves on which coarse crockery and tinware were arranged and
+under which iron cooking utensils were piled.
+
+Captain Neville and Mr. Clarence returned to the wagons to see for
+themselves that their valuable personal effects were safely bestowed for
+the night, and that the horses and mules were well cared for. The
+proprietor of this place attended them.
+
+While Mrs. Neville and Corona still walked up and down in the room, a
+small dark-haired woman came in and nodded to them, and asked if they
+would like to go upstairs and have some water to wash their faces.
+
+Both ladies thankfully accepted this offer, and followed the landlady up
+a rude flight of steps that led up from the corner of the room to an
+open trap door, through which they entered the garret.
+
+This was nothing better than a loft, whose rough plank floor formed the
+ceiling of the room below, and whose sloping roof rose from the floor
+front and back, and met overhead.
+
+Here they rested through the night.
+
+Let us hasten on. It was the thirteenth day out. The trail had crossed
+nearly the whole of the Indian Territory, and were within one day's
+march of Fort Farthermost, on the Texan frontier.
+
+They had passed the previous night at Fort W., and at sunrise they had
+crossed the Rio Negro, and before noon they had made nearly a score of
+miles toward their destination. They halted beside a little stream that
+took its rise in a spring among the rocks on the right hand of the
+trail. Here the party meant to rest for two hours before resuming the
+march to Fort Farthermost, which they hoped to reach that same night.
+
+As usual at the noon rest, mules and horses were unharnessed and led
+down to the stream to be watered and fed. Fires were built and rustic
+cranes improvised to hang the pots and kettles gypsy style. Since the
+first day out old Martha had been constituted cook and old John butler
+to our party.
+
+In a short time Martha had prepared such a hot dinner as was practicable
+under the circumstances, and John had laid the cloth.
+
+When all was ready the party of four sat down on the dry grass to
+partake of the meal, to every course of which they all did ample
+justice.
+
+"This is our last _al fresco_ feast," said Captain Neville, after
+dinner, as he filled the glasses of the two ladies and of Clarence
+Rockharrt and proposed the toast:
+
+"Our lasting friendship and companionship."
+
+It was honored warmly.
+
+Next Clarence proposed:
+
+"Mrs. Neville," which was also honored and responded to by the captain
+in a neat little speech, at the end of which he proposed:
+
+"Mrs. Rothsay."
+
+This was duly met by Clarence with a brief acknowledgment. Mr. Clarence
+was no speechmaker. But he proposed the health of--
+
+"Our gallant captain," which was drank with enthusiasm.
+
+The captain responded, and proposed--
+
+"Mr. Clarence Rockharrt," which was cordially honored.
+
+Then Mr. Clarence made his last little speech of personal thanks.
+
+After this the company arose and separated, to wander about the camping
+ground, to stretch their cramped limbs before returning to their seats
+on their carryalls.
+
+"Come, Clarence, let us follow this little stream up to its head. It
+cannot be far away," said Corona.
+
+Mr. Clarence silently drew her arm within his, and they walked on up the
+little valley until it narrowed into a gorge, clothed with stunted trees
+in brilliant autumn hues, through which the gray rocks jutted. The
+tinkling of the spring which supplied the stream could be heard while it
+was yet out of sight.
+
+"Did you bring your drinking cup with you, Clarence? I should like a
+draught from the spring," said Corona.
+
+"Oh, yes," said her uncle, producing the silver cup. They clambered up
+the side of the gorge until they reached the spring--a great jet of
+water issuing from the rock. But there both stopped short, spellbound,
+in amazement. On a ledge of rock above the spring, and facing them,
+stood a majestic man, clothed in coat of buckskin, faced and bordered
+with fur, leggings of buckskin and sandals of buffalo hide. On his head
+he wore a fur cap that half concealed his tawny hair. The face was fine,
+but sunburnt and half covered with a long, tawny beard. Corona looked
+up, and recognized--Regulas Rothsay!
+
+With a cry of terror, she struck her hands to her eyes, as if to dispel
+an optical illusion, and sank half fainting, to be caught in the arms of
+her uncle and laid against the side of the rocks, while he sprinkled her
+face with water from the spring.
+
+She recovered her breath, opened her eyes, and looked anxiously,
+fearfully, all around her.
+
+There was no one in sight anywhere. The apparition had vanished. Corona
+and her uncle were alone.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+THE MEETING ON THE MOUNT.
+
+
+"What is this? Am I mad? Have I seen a spirit? Oh, Clarence, what is
+it?" cried Corona, in a tumult of emotion in which her life seemed
+throbbing away as she clung to her uncle for support.
+
+"Try to compose yourself, dear Cora," he answered, as he gently laid her
+down on the mossy rocks, and went and brought her water from the spring
+in his pocket cup.
+
+She raised herself and drank it at his request, and then staring wildly
+at him, repeated her questions:
+
+"Oh, what was it? Who was here just now? Or was it--or was it--was
+it--delusion?"
+
+"For Heaven's sake, Cora, calm yourself. It was Regulas Rothsay who
+stood here a moment ago."
+
+"Rule himself, and no delusion! But, oh! I knew it! I knew it all the
+time!" she exclaimed, still trembling violently.
+
+"My darling Cora, try--"
+
+"Where did he go? Where?" she cried, staggering to her feet and clinging
+to her uncle. "Where? Oh, take me to him!"
+
+"Do you see that log cabin on the plateau above us, Cora, to the right?"
+he said, pointing in the direction of which he spoke.
+
+Her eyes followed his index, and she saw a cottage of rough-hewn logs
+standing against the rocky steep at the back of the broad ledge above
+them.
+
+"What do you mean? Is he up there? Is he up there?" she breathlessly
+demanded.
+
+"Yes; he is in that hut. I saw him climb the rocks and enter it, and
+close the door. But, for Heaven's sake! compose yourself, my dear. You
+are shaking as with an ague, and your hands are cold as ice," said
+Clarence.
+
+"In that hut, did you say? So near? So near?"
+
+"Yes, dear Cora; but be calm."
+
+"Take me there! Take me there! Oh, give me your arm, Uncle Clarence, and
+help me. My limbs fail now, when I need them more than ever before. Ah!
+and my heart fails, too!" she moaned, growing suddenly pale and fainter
+as she leaned heavily against her uncle.
+
+"Cora, darling! Cora, rouse yourself, my girl! This weakness is not like
+you. Take courage; all will be well," said Mr. Clarence, caressingly,
+laying his hand on her head.
+
+She sighed heavily as she asked:
+
+"How will he receive me? Oh, how will he receive me? Will he have me
+now? But he must! Oh, he must! For I will never, never, never go down
+this mountain side again without him! I will perish on its rocks sooner!
+Oh, come, come! Help me to reach that hut, Clarence."
+
+There was no resisting her wild and passionate appeal. Clarence put his
+arm around her waist, to sustain her more effectually, as he said:
+
+"Now lean on me, Cora, and step carefully, for the path is almost
+hidden, and very rugged."
+
+"Oh, Clarence, did he recognize me? did he, Clarence? did he?" she
+eagerly inquired.
+
+"Yes, Cora, he did," gravely answered the young uncle.
+
+"And turned and went away! And turned and went away! Went away and left
+me without one word!" she wailed, in doubt and distress.
+
+"Cora, my dear, pray control yourself," said Clarence, uneasily.
+
+"Did he speak to you?" she suddenly inquired.
+
+"Not one word."
+
+"Did you speak to him?"
+
+"No; for he was gone in an instant, before I recovered from my
+astonishment at his appearance."
+
+"How did he look?--how did he look when he recognized me? In anger?"
+
+"No, Corona; but in much sorrow, pity, and tenderness," gravely replied
+Clarence.
+
+"Then, why did he leave me? Oh, why did he turn away from me?"
+
+"My dear, he had every reason to think that his sudden appearance had
+frightened you, and that his presence grieved and distressed you."
+
+"Why, oh, why should he have thought so?" she demanded, with increasing
+agitation.
+
+"My dear girl, you were frightened. I might say appalled. You saw him
+suddenly, and with a half-smothered scream threw your hands to your eyes
+as if to shut out the sight, and then sank to the ground. Now what could
+the man think but that you feared and hated the sight of him?"
+
+"Just as he thought before! Just as he thought before!"
+
+"And he turned sorrowfully away and walked up to his cabin on the mount,
+entered, and shut the door. I saw him do it."
+
+"Just as he did before! Just as he did before! Oh, Rule! what a
+fatality! That appearances should always be false and disastrous between
+us!" she moaned.
+
+"Not in this case, Cora. At least not from this hour. Come, we are on
+the ledge now!" said Clarence, as he helped his niece, who with one more
+high step stood on the top of the plateau, her back to one of the most
+glorious prairie scenes in nature, her face to a rocky, pine-dotted
+precipice, against which stood a double log cabin, with a door in the
+middle and a window on each side.
+
+"There is the hut! Now, shall I take you there, or shall I wait here and
+let you go alone?" he inquired, as they stood side by side gazing on the
+hut.
+
+She did not answer. Her eyes were riveted on the door of the cabin,
+while she leaned heavily on the arm of her uncle.
+
+"I see how it is: you are weakening, losing courage. Let me support you
+to the door," said Clarence, putting his arm around her waist.
+
+But she drew herself up suddenly.
+
+"Oh, let me go alone, dear Uncle Clarence. My meeting with Rule should
+be face to face only," she replied, still trembling, but resolute.
+
+"Are you sure you can do it?"
+
+"Oh, yes, yes! My limbs shall no longer refuse their office!"
+
+Clarence threw himself down at the foot of a pine tree to sit and await
+events.
+
+He took out his watch and looked at the time.
+
+"It is one o'clock," he said to himself. "At two sharp the trail will
+move, or ought to do so. Perhaps Neville might give us half an hour's
+grace, though. At any rate, I will wait here three-quarters of an hour,
+and if in that time I hear nothing from Rothsay or Cora, I shall go down
+the mountain to explain the situation to Neville."
+
+So saying, Mr. Clarence took out his pipe, filled and lighted it, and
+smoked.
+
+Corona, like a somnambulist or a blind woman, went slowly toward the log
+cabin, holding out her hands before her. She soon reached it, leaned for
+a moment against the log wall to recover her breath and her courage, and
+then knocked.
+
+The door was instantly opened, and Regulas Rothsay stood on the
+threshold, still clothed in his hunter's suit of buckskin, but without
+the fur cap--the same Rule, unchanged except in habiliments and in the
+length of his untrimmed, tawny hair and beard.
+
+In the instant of meeting she raised her eyes to his, and read in them
+the undying love of his heart.
+
+With a cry of rapture, of infinite relief and infinite content, she sank
+upon his doorstep, clasped his knees, and laid her beautiful head down
+prone on his feet. Only for a second.
+
+He instantly raised her in his arms, pressed her to his heart, kissed
+her, and kissed her again and again, bore her into the cabin, placed her
+in the only chair, and knelt down beside her.
+
+She turned and threw her arms around his neck, and dropped her head upon
+his bosom.
+
+And not a word was spoken between them. The emotions of both were too
+great for utterance, too great almost for endurance.
+
+They were bathed in a flood of light from the noonday sun pouring its
+rays through the open door and windows of the cabin. It was the
+apotheosis of love.
+
+Rule was the first to speak.
+
+"You are welcome, oh, welcome, as life to the dead, my love! But I do
+not understand my blessedness--I do not," he said, dropping his head on
+her shoulders, while she still lay on his bosom, in a dream, a trance of
+perfect contentment.
+
+"Oh, Rule, my husband, my lord, my king! I have come to you,
+unconsciously led by the Divine Providence! But I have come to you, to
+stay forever, if you will have me! I have come, never, never, never to
+leave you, unless you send me away!" she said.
+
+"I send you away, dear? I send away my restored life from me? Ah, you
+know, you know how impossible that would be! But if I should try to tell
+you, dear, all that I feel at this moment, I should fail, and talk
+folly, for no human words can utter this, dear! But I am amazed--amazed
+to see you here with me, as the dead to the material world might be, on
+awaking amid the splendors of Paradise!"
+
+"You wish to know how I came?"
+
+"No! I do not! Amazed as I may be, I am content to know that you are
+here, dear--here! But," he said, looking around on the rudeness of his
+hut, "oh, what a place to receive you in! I left you in a palace,
+surrounded by all the splendors and luxuries of civilization! I receive
+you in a log cabin, bare of even the necessaries and comforts of life!"
+he added, gravely.
+
+"But you left me a discarded, broken-hearted woman, and you receive me a
+restored and happy wife!" she exclaimed.
+
+"But, oh, Cora! can you live with me here, here? Look around you, dear!
+Look on the home you would share!--the walls of logs, the chimney of
+rocks, the floor of stone, the cups and dishes of earthenware, pewter
+and iron, the--"
+
+She interrupted him, passionately:
+
+"But you are here, Rule! You! you! And the log hut is transfigured into
+a mansion of light! A mansion like the many in our Heavenly Father's
+House! Oh, Rule! you, you are all, all to me! life, joy, riches,
+splendor, all to me! Am I all to you, Rule?"
+
+"All of earth and heaven, dear."
+
+"Oh, happy I am! Oh, I thank God, I thank God for this happiness! Rule,
+we will never part again!--never for a single day! But be together,
+to-day and
+
+    'To-morrow and to-morrow and to-morrow,
+    To the last syllable of recorded time,'
+
+and through the endless ages of eternity! Oh, Rule, how could we ever
+have mistaken our hearts? How could we ever have parted?"
+
+"The mistake was mine only, dear. After what you told me on our marriage
+day, I lost all hope, all interest and ambition in life. I had toiled
+and striven and conquered, for the one dear prize; all my battle of life
+was fought for you; all my victories were won for you, and were laid at
+your feet. But when I found that all my love and hope had brought only
+grief and despair to you--then, dear, all my triumphs turned into Dead
+Sea fruit on my lips! Then I left all and came into the wilderness; left
+no trace behind me; effaced myself from your life, from the world, as
+effectually as I could do it; and so--believing it to be for your good
+and happiness--died to the world and died to you!"
+
+"Oh, Rule! Miserable woman that I was! I wrecked your life! I wrecked
+your career!"
+
+"No, dear, no; the mistake, I said, was mine! I should have trusted your
+heart. I should have given you the time you implored; I should not have
+fled in the madness of suddenly wounded affection."
+
+"Oh, Rule? if you could have only looked back on me after you went away,
+only known the anguish your disappearance caused me and the inconsolable
+sorrow of the time that followed it."
+
+"If I could have supposed it possible even, I would have hastened to
+you, from the uttermost parts of the earth!"
+
+"And then they reported you dead, murdered by the Comanches, in the
+massacre of La Terrepeur, and sorrow was deepened to despair."
+
+"Yes; I heard of that massacre. The report of my death must have arisen
+in this way: I had lived at La Terrepeur for many months, but had left
+and come to this place some days before the massacre. Some other
+unfortunate was murdered and burned in the deserted hut, whose bones
+were found in ashes. I did not return to contradict the report. I wished
+to be dead to the world, as I was dead to hope, dead to you, dead to
+myself!"
+
+"Oh, Rule! in all that time how I longed, famished, fainted, died, for
+your presence! Yes, Rule; died daily."
+
+"My own, dear Cora, how could I have mistaken you? Oh! if I had only
+known!"
+
+"Ah, yes! if you had only known my heart, or I had only known your
+whereabouts! In either case we should have met before, and not lost four
+years out of our lives! But now, Rule," she said, with sudden
+animation--"now 'We meet to part no more,' as the hymn says. I will
+never, never, never, leave you for a day! I will be your very shadow!"
+
+"My sunshine, rather, dear!"
+
+"And are you content, Rule?"
+
+"Infinitely."
+
+"And happy?"
+
+"Perfectly."
+
+"Thank God! So am I. But why, oh, why when we met by the spring just
+now, why, when I was crazed with joy and fear at the sudden sight of
+you, why did you turn away and leave me?" she passionately demanded.
+
+He looked at her serenely, incisively, and answered, calmly, quietly:
+
+"Dear, because you shrank from me, threw your hands up before your eyes,
+as if to shut out the sight of me. Dear, your own sudden appearance
+before me at the spring, to which I had gone for my noonday draught of
+water, nearly overwhelmed me; but I readily recovered myself and
+understood it, connected it with the trail below, and concluded that you
+were on your way to Farthermost to join your brother, whom I had heard
+of as one of the officers of the new fort. Then, believing that my
+presence distressed you, I went away."
+
+"Oh, Rule!"
+
+After a little while Rothsay inquired:
+
+"Was not that Mr. Clarence Rockharrt whom I saw with you by the spring?"
+
+"Yes; Uncle Clarence. He helped me up to this ledge, and then he stayed
+outside while I came in here to look for you."
+
+"Let us go and bring him in now, dear," said Rule.
+
+And the two walked out together.
+
+But no one was to be seen on the plateau; only, on the ground under the
+pine tree where Mr. Clarence had rested was a piece of white paper, kept
+in place by a small stone laid upon it.
+
+Rule picked up the stone, and handed the paper to Cora.
+
+It proved to be a leaf from Mr. Clarence's pocket tablets, and on it was
+written:
+
+    "I am going down the mountain to tell Captain Neville that my
+    party will camp here to-night, and join him at the fort to-morrow,
+    so that he may go on with his train at once, if he should see fit.
+    CLARENCE."
+
+"He saw you receive me; he knew it was all right; then he grew tired of
+waiting for me. He thought I had forgotten him, and so I had, and he
+left this paper and went down to the trail," Corona explained with a
+smile.
+
+"Shall we go down and see your friends, Cora? Tell me what you wish,
+dear," said Rothsay.
+
+Corona looked at her watch, and then replied:
+
+"Courtesy would have required me to go down and take leave of Captain
+and Mrs. Neville before leaving them, but it is too late now. Their
+caravan is on the march by this time. They were to have resumed their
+route at two o'clock. It is after three now."
+
+"We can go to Farthermost later, dear. It is but half a day's ride from
+here. Shall we go down the mountain and join Clarence? Is it your wish,
+Cora?"
+
+"No, not yet. He is very well as he is. He can wait for us. Let us sit
+down here together. I have so much to tell, and so much to hear," said
+Corona.
+
+"Yes, dear; and I also have 'so much to tell, and so much to hear,'"
+assented Rothsay, as they sat down at the foot of the young pine tree,
+with their backs to the rising cliffs and their faces to the descending
+mountain, the brook at its foot, and the vast, sunlit prairie, in its
+autumn coat of dry grass, rolling in smooth hills and hollows of gold
+and bronze off to the distant horizon.
+
+"Tell me, dear, of all that has befallen you in these dark years that
+have parted us. Tell me of your grandparents. Do they still live?"
+inquired Rothsay.
+
+"Ah, no!" replied Corona. And then she entered upon the family history
+of the last four years and four months, since Rule had disappeared, and
+told him of the sudden death of her dear old grandmother on the very day
+on which the false report of Rothsay's murder reached them.
+
+She told him of her Uncle Fabian's marriage to Violet Wood a year later.
+
+Of her widowed grandfather's second marriage to Mrs. Stillwater, whom
+Rothsay had known in his childhood as Miss Rose Flowers.
+
+Of the recent death of this second wife, followed very soon after by
+that of the aged widower.
+
+And finally she told him of her own resolution to follow her brother
+Sylvan to his post of duty at Fort Farthermost, to open a mission home
+school for Indian children, and to devote her life and fortune to their
+service; and of the good opportunity offered her by the kindness of
+Colonel Z. in procuring for her the escort of Captain and Mrs. Neville,
+who were on their way to Farthermost with a party of recruits.
+
+"And Clarence? How came he to be of the company?" inquired Rothsay.
+
+"Uncle Clarence could not agree with Uncle Fabian in business policy. So
+they dissolved partnership very amicably and with mutual satisfaction.
+This was after I had left Rockhold. Clarence gathered up his wealth,
+brought three devoted servants with him, and set out to follow me. At
+St. Louis he purchased wagons, tents, horses, mules, and every
+convenience for crossing the plains. He overtook and surprised us at
+Fort Leavenworth on the very day of our intended departure for
+Farthermost."
+
+"Clarence came for your sake."
+
+"Yes; and he has enjoyed the journey. On the free prairie he has been
+like a boy out of school--so buoyant, so joyous--the life of the whole
+company."
+
+"What will he do now?"
+
+"I think he will go on to Farthermost for this season. After this I do
+not know what he will do or where he will go."
+
+"He will remain in this quarter, which offers a grand field for a man
+like Clarence Rockharrt," said Rothsay.
+
+"I should think it might--in the future," replied Corona.
+
+"In the near future. The tide of emigration is pouring into this section
+so fast that very soon the ground will be disputed with the Mexican
+government, and true men and brave men will be much wanted here."
+
+"Yes," said Corona, indifferently, for she cared very little at this
+moment for public interests. "But tell me of yourself, Rule. I long to
+hear you talk of yourself."
+
+Rothsay was no egotist. He never had been addicted to speaking of
+himself or of his feelings.
+
+Now, at her urgent request, he told her in brief how he had renounced
+all his honors in the country for the sake of the woman for whose sake,
+also, he had first striven to win them and had won them.
+
+"Dear," he said, "from the time you first noticed me, when you were a
+sweet child of seven summers and I a boy of twelve--yes, winters--for
+while all your years had been summers, dear--summers of love, shelter,
+comfort, luxury--all my years had been winters of loss, want, orphanage,
+and destitution--you were my help, support, inspiration. I longed to be
+worthy of your friendship, your interest, your sympathy. And for all
+these things I toiled, endured, and struggled."
+
+"I know! Oh, I know!" said Corona, earnestly.
+
+"Yes, dear, you know it all. For who but you were with me in the spirit
+through all the struggle, helping, supporting, encouraging, until you
+seemed to me my muse, my soul, my inner and purer and higher self. Dear,
+I wronged you when I connected your love with this world's pride. I
+wronged you bitterly, and I have suffered for it and made you suffer--"
+
+"Oh, no, no, no, Rule! The fault was all my own! I am not so good and
+wise as you!" exclaimed Corona.
+
+"Hush, dear! Hush! Hear me out!" said Rothsay, laying his hand gently on
+her head.
+
+"Well, go on, but don't blame yourself. Oh, '_chevalier sans peur et
+sans reproche_,'" said Corona, fervently.
+
+He resumed very quietly:
+
+"When I had reached a position in this world's honor to which I dared to
+invite you, then I laid my victory at your feet and prayed you to share
+it. And, Corona, when the bishop had blessed our nuptials, I dreamed
+that we were blessed indeed. You know, dear, what a miserable awakening
+I had from that dream on the evening of our wedding day."
+
+"It was my fault! It was my fault! Oh, vain, foolish, infatuated woman
+that I was!" cried Corona.
+
+"No, dear; you were not to blame. You were true, candid, natural through
+it all. Our betrothal, dear, was on your part the betrothal of friends.
+You did not know your own heart then. You went abroad with your
+grandparents, and, after two years of travel, you were thrown in the
+court circles of London, and exposed to all the splendors, temptations
+and fascinations of rank, culture and refinement, such as you had never
+met at home in your rural neighborhood. You were caught, dazzled,
+bewildered. You thought you loved the English duke who sought your
+hand--"
+
+"But I never did, Rule. Oh, Heaven knows I never did. It was all
+self-delusion," broke in Corona.
+
+"No; you never did. I saw that in the first instant that I met your eyes
+in the log cabin up yonder. You never did! It was a self-delusion. Yet
+you were under the influence of that self-delusion when I found you on
+our wedding evening in such a paroxysm of grief and despair that
+I--astonished and amazed at what I saw--shared your delusion and
+imagined that you loved this duke when you married me. What could I do,
+my own dear Cora, for whom I would have lived or died at bidding--what
+could I do but efface myself from your life?"
+
+"Oh! you could have given me time--time to recover from my mental
+illness, since I had done no evil willingly. Since I had kept my troth
+as well as I could. Since I had vowed to love and serve you all the days
+of my life. You should have given me time, Rule, to recover my senses
+and keep my vow."
+
+"Yes; I should have done so! But, you see, I did not know. How could I
+know? Oh, my dear Cora! It cost me little to lay down all the honors I
+had won, for they were worthless to me if not shared by you, for whom
+they were won. But it cost my life almost to resign you. Mine was 'not
+the flight of a felon' or a coward, but the retirement of one sick, sick
+unto death of the world and of all the glory of the world. Some men in
+my case might have sought relief in death, but I--I knew I must live
+until the Lord of life should himself relieve me of duty. So I left the
+city on the night of my wedding day, the night also before my
+inauguration day."
+
+"Oh, Rule! and as if it required that supreme act of renunciation to
+tear the veil from my eyes and let me see you as you were, and see my
+own heart as it was--from that hour I knew how much, how deeply, how
+eternally I loved you!" said Corona.
+
+Rothsay raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. Then he resumed:
+
+"I wrote two letters--one to you, explaining my motives for leaving, and
+advising you not to repeat to any one the subject or substance of our
+last interview, lest it should be misunderstood or misrepresented, and
+should do you unmerited injury with an evil-thinking world--"
+
+"Yes, Rule. See! See! I have that letter yet!" exclaimed Corona, hastily
+unbuttoning the front of her bodice and pulling up the little black silk
+bag which she wore next her heart, suspended from the silken cord around
+her neck, and taking from it the old, yellow, broken paper which
+contained the last lines he had written to her.
+
+"You kept that all this time, dear?" he inquired, gently taking the
+paper and looking at it.
+
+"Yes. Why not? It was the last relic I possessed of you. And it has
+never left me. I never showed it to a human being, because you did not
+wish me to do so. But you said you had written two letters. To whom was
+the other? We never heard of it."
+
+Rothsay looked at her in surprise for a moment and answered:
+
+"The other letter? Why, of course it was my letter of resignation."
+
+"Then it was never found! Never! If it had been, it would have saved
+much trouble. No one knew what had become of you, Rule. Not even I,
+except that you had left me on account of that last conversation between
+us, which you adjured me never to divulge. And oh! what amazement your
+disappearance caused! and what conjectures as to your fate! Many thought
+that you had been assassinated and your body sunk in the river. Oh,
+Rule! Many others thought that you had been abducted by some political
+enemy--as if any force could have carried you off, Rule!"
+
+Rothsay laughed for the first time during the interview. Corona
+continued:
+
+"Advertisements were placed in all the papers, offering large rewards
+for information that should lead to the discovery of your fate or
+whereabouts, living or dead. And, oh! how many impostors came forward to
+claim the money, with information that led to nothing at all. A sailor
+returning from Rio de Janeiro swore that you had shipped as a man before
+the mast and gone out with him, and that he had left you in the capital
+of Brazil. A fur trader from Alaska reported you killing seals in that
+territory. A returned miner swore that he had left you gold digging in
+California. A New Bedford sailor made his affidavit that he had seen
+you embark on a whaling ship for Baffin's Bay. These were the most
+hopeful reports. But there were others. There was never the body of an
+unknown man found anywhere that was not reported to be yours. Oh, Rule!
+think of the anguish all these rumors cost your friends!"
+
+"Cost you, my poor Corona! I doubt if they cost any other human being a
+single pang."
+
+"But all these rumors proved to be false, and your fate remained a
+mystery until it was apparently cleared up by the report of your murder
+by the Comanches in the massacre of La Terrepeur."
+
+"A report as false as any of the others, as you see, yet with a better
+foundation in probability than any of those, as I have explained. But
+how my letter of resignation should have been lost I cannot conjecture.
+I posted it with my own hand," said Rothsay, reflectively.
+
+"Why, letters are occasionally lost in the mail! But, Rule, how was it
+that you never heard of all the amazement and confusion that followed
+your flight, for the want of your letter to explain it?"
+
+"Because, dear, from the time I left the State capital to this day I
+have never seen a newspaper or spoken to a civilized being."
+
+"Rule!"
+
+"It is true, dear! Look at me. Have I not degenerated into a savage?"
+
+"No, no, no, Regulas Rothsay! you could never do that! Ah! how much
+nobler you look to me in that rude forest garb than ever in the fine
+dress of the drawing room! But tell me about your journey from the city
+into the wilderness, and of your life since."
+
+"I have been trying to do so, Cora, but every time I try to begin my
+narrative by reverting to the hour of my flight, I seem spellbound to
+that hour and cannot escape from it. But I will try again," he said,
+and he began his story.
+
+He told her, in brief, that on leaving the Rockhold house and going out
+upon the sidewalk, he found the streets still alight with illuminated
+houses and alive with the orgies of revelers who had come to the
+inauguration.
+
+In moving through the crowd he was unrecognized, for who could suspect
+the black-coated figure passing alone along the street at midnight to be
+the governor-elect of the State, in whose honor the assembled multitudes
+were getting drunk?
+
+His first intention had been to take a hack, drive to the railway depot,
+and board the first train going West. But the hacks were all engaged as
+sleeping berths by men who could not get accommodations in any of the
+houses of the overcrowded city.
+
+So he set off to walk, and almost immediately came face to face with old
+Scythia, the friend of his childhood.
+
+"Old Scythia!" exclaimed Corona, interrupting the narrative.
+
+"Yes, dear; the old seeress of Raven Roost, as they used to call her. Of
+course, I never, even as a boy, believed in the supernatural powers of
+divination ascribed to her, but I must credit her with wonderful
+intuitions. She had divined the very crisis that had come, and in that
+hour of my agony and humiliation she exercised a strange power over me,"
+said Rothsay; and then he took up the thread of his narrative again.
+
+He told her that on leaving the State capital he had taken neither
+railway carriage nor river steamboat, but had tramped, with old Scythia
+by his side, all the way from the Cumberland Mountains to the
+Southwestern frontier.
+
+The journey had taken them all the summer, for they traveled very
+slowly--sometimes walking no more than ten miles a day, sometimes
+sleeping on pallets made of leaves under the trees of the forest,
+sometimes reaching a pioneer's log hut, where they could get a hot
+supper and a night's lodging. Sometimes stopping over Sunday in some
+settlement where there was no church, and where Rule, though not an
+ordained minister, would on Christian principles hold a service and
+preach a sermon.
+
+So they journeyed over the mountains, and through the valleys and
+forests, until at length, in the end of October, they arrived at the
+poorest, loneliest, and most forlorn of all the pioneer settlements they
+had seen.
+
+This was La Terrepeur, on the borders of the Indian Reserve. It was a
+settlement of about twenty log huts, in a small valley shut in by
+densely wooded hills, and watered by a narrow brook. It was too near the
+country of the Comanches for safety, and too far from the nearest fort
+for protection. There was neither church nor school house within a
+hundred miles.
+
+The travelers were hospitably received by the pioneers, and here, as the
+autumn was far advanced, and travel difficult, they determined to halt
+for the winter, at least, and in the spring to go farther south in
+search of Scythia's tribe, the Nez Percees, who had been moved away from
+their former hunting grounds.
+
+They were feasted and lodged by the hutters that night. The next morning
+the men turned out in a body, felled trees and cleared a spot on the
+slope of a wooded hill, sawed logs and built two huts, one for Rothsay,
+and one for old Scythia. They were finished before night. And then the
+settlers had a house-warming, which was a breakdown dance to the music
+of the one fiddle in the settlement, and a supper of such eatables and
+drinkables as the place could afford.
+
+But there was no furniture in these two primitive dwellings. So once
+more these wayfarers had each to sleep on a bed of leaves.
+
+On the second day the man who owned the only mule and cart, and was the
+only expressman and carrier to the settlement, offered to go to the
+nearest post trader's station--a distance of fifty miles--and purchase
+anything that the strangers might need, if said strangers had the money
+to buy.
+
+Rothsay had money in notes, hardly thought of, and never looked at,
+except when, on their long journey, he had to take out his pocket book
+to pay for accommodations at some log cabin, or to purchase a change of
+under clothing at some post trader's.
+
+Also old Scythia had a pouch of silver and gold coin, saved from the
+money that had been regularly sent to her by Rule from the time when he
+first began to earn wages to the time when they set out for the
+wilderness in company.
+
+Of this money they gave the frontier expressman all that he required to
+purchase the plainest furniture for the log cabins--bedding, cooking
+utensils, crockery ware, and some groceries.
+
+"Yer can't buy bed or mattresses at the post trader's; but yer can buy
+ticking, and we can sew it up for yer, and the men will stuff with
+straw. There's plenty of straw," said one of the kindly women, speaking
+for all her neighbors.
+
+And the expressman set out with his list.
+
+In three days he was back again with a satisfactory supply. The women
+made the straw beds and pillows and hemmed the sheets. The men filled
+the ticks and "knocked together" a pine table and a few rude,
+three-legged stools. And so Rothsay and old Scythia were settled for the
+winter.
+
+Rothsay took upon himself the office of teacher and preacher. Among the
+articles brought from the post trader's were a few Bibles, hymn books,
+and elementary school books, slates and pencils.
+
+He began his labors by holding a religious service in his own cabin on
+the first Sabbath of his sojourn at La Terrepeur, which--perhaps for its
+rarity--was attended by the whole of the little community. And on the
+next day he opened his little school in his hut, where he taught the
+children all day, and where he slept at night. Old Scythia's cabin was
+kitchen and dining room.
+
+All that autumn, winter and spring Rule labored among the pioneers of La
+Terrepeur. It was not true, as had been reported, that he was a
+missionary and schoolmaster to the Indians; for no one of the savages
+who occasionally came into the settlement could be induced to approach
+the "school."
+
+It was in June that old Scythia became restless and anxious to find her
+tribe--the wandering Nez Percees.
+
+Rothsay gave his school a vacation and set out with Scythia to find the
+valley where they were reported to be in camp.
+
+"This valley below, Cora, dear," said Rothsay, interrupting the course
+of the narrative. "But when we reached it, the Nez Percees had
+disappeared. A lonely old hunter, who had built this hut, was the only
+human being in the place, and he was slowly dying, and he would have
+died alone but for the opportune arrival of old Scythia and myself. He
+told us that the Nez Percees had crossed the river about two weeks
+before, and were far on their migration west."
+
+"Old Scythia sat down flat on the floor, drew up her knees, folded her
+hands upon them, dropped her head, and died as quietly as a tired child
+falls to sleep."
+
+"Oh!" exclaimed Corona, "how sad it was."
+
+"Yes; it was sad; age, fatigue and disappointment did their work. I
+buried her body under that pine tree where your Uncle Clarence sat down.
+The old hunter's struggle with dissolution was longer. He lingered five
+days. I waited on him until death relieved him, and then laid his body
+to rest beside old Scythia's. I was then preparing to return to La
+Terrepeur, when a wandering scout brought me the news of the massacre of
+the inhabitants and the destruction of the settlement. Since that time,
+dear Corona, I have lived alone on this mountain. That is all. Come,
+shall we go down and see your uncle?"
+
+"Yes," said Corona.
+
+And they arose and walked down into the valley.
+
+They soon found the wagon camp of Clarence Rockharrt and his followers.
+
+The horses and mules, which had been unharnessed, watered and fed, were
+now tethered to the scattered tree trunks, and were nosing about under
+the dried leaves in search of the tender herbage that was still
+springing in that genial soil beneath the shelter of the fallen foliage.
+The wagons had been drawn up under cover of the thicket and prepared as
+sleeping berths.
+
+On the grass was spread a large white damask table cloth, and on that
+was arranged a neat tea service for three.
+
+Martha was busy at a gypsy fire boiling coffee and broiling venison
+steaks.
+
+"You are just in time, Rule. How do you do?" exclaimed Mr. Clarence,
+emerging from among the horses, and coming forward to shake hands with
+Rothsay as if they had been in the daily habit of meeting for the last
+four years.
+
+The two men clasped hands cordially.
+
+"I always had a secret conviction that you were living, Rule, and
+always secretly hoped to meet you again, 'somehow, somewhere;' and now
+my prescience is justified in our meeting to-day."
+
+"Clarence," gravely replied Rothsay, "you ask me no questions, yet now I
+feel that you are entitled to some explanation of my strange flight and
+long sequestration. And I will give it to you to-morrow."
+
+"My dear Rothsay, I have divined much of the mystery, but you may tell
+me what you like, when you like. And now supper is ready," said
+Clarence, heartily, as the four servants came up, each with a dish to
+set on the cloth, quite an unnecessary pageantry where one would have
+been enough, but that they all wanted to see the long-lost man. And with
+the warmth and freedom of their race they quickly set down their dishes
+and gathered around the stranger to give him a warm welcome, expressing
+loudly their surprise and delight in seeing him.
+
+"Dough 'deed I doane wonner at nuffin' wot turns up in dis yere new
+country!" old Martha declared.
+
+Then followed a gay and happy _al fresco_ supper.
+
+By the time it was over the sun had set, and the autumn evening air,
+even in that southern clime, was growing very chilly.
+
+So the three friends arose from the table.
+
+Rothsay and Corona turned to go up the hill. Clarence escorted them,
+carrying Corona's bag.
+
+They parted at the door of the log cabin.
+
+"I shall have our tent pitched at the foot of the mountain early
+to-morrow morning, and breakfast prepared. You will come down and join
+me," said Mr. Clarence, as he bade the reunited pair good night.
+
+The wagon camp did not break up the next day, nor the day after that.
+
+On the third day who should arrive but Lieut. Haught, absent on leave,
+and come to look up his relations. His meeting with them was a jubilee.
+His sister wept for joy; his brother-in-law and his uncle would have
+embraced him if they had expressed their emotions as continental
+Europeans do; even the negroes almost hugged and kissed him.
+
+On Lieut. Haught's representations and at his persuasions the little
+camp broke up, and with Rothsay and Cora in company, marched off to Fort
+Farthermost, where they were cordially received by the commandant and
+the officers, and where the reunited pair commenced life anew.
+
+My story opened with the marriage and mysterious separation of the newly
+married pair. It should close with their reunion.
+
+The later life of my young hero belongs to history. It would require a
+pen more powerful than mine to pursue his career, which was as grand,
+heroic and romantic as that of any knight, prince, or paladin in the
+days of old.
+
+His pure name and fame became identified with the rise and progress of a
+great State in that Southwestern wilderness. Soldier, statesman,
+patriot, benefactor, all in one, his memory will be honored as long as
+his country shall last. And yet, perhaps, the crowning glory of his
+character was his power of self-renunciation--proved in every act of his
+public life, but shown first, perhaps, when, to leave the life of one
+beloved woman free, he renounced not only the hand of his adored bride,
+but
+
+    "The kingdoms of the world and the glory."
+
+
+
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